
Class _ — idJiA-Ci 
Book. i_ 






CQEHUGHT DEPOSm 



HUNTING THE HUN 




(.Courtesu of the British Piclcnal Service) 

Roadside Scene on the British Section of the 
Western Front 



HUNTING THE HUN 



BY 

CAPTAIN JAMES BELTON 

lATE OF THE BRITISH AND CANADIAN FORCES 
AND 

LIEUTENANT E. G. ODELL 

lATE OF THE S4TH CANADIAN BATTAUON, B.E.F. 




ILLUSTRATED 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK LONDON 

1918 



lyi^LAjL. '■ ■^A^'V^<U^ 



-^ 






(^ 



COPTHIGHT, 1918, BY 

p. APPLETON AND COMPANl 



Printed in the United States of America 

JUL 29 1918 



FOREWORD 

Captain Belton and Lieutenant Odell's book of the 
war will be read with deep and sustained interest by 
everyone who wants to understand "the real thing." 
For myself I confess to being thrilled by the simple, 
direct, conversational style of the chapters describing 
the preparations for the attack on and ultimate cap- 
ture of Vimy Ridge. The complete absence of any 
attempt at word-painting, the little touches of actu- 
ality, such as the pattern of white tapes on the prac- 
tice ground which showed the conformation of the 
German trenches, and the method of signalling to the 
contact aeroplane during an advance — these features 
are at once novel and arresting. The story is told 
with the terseness of a despatch. You see the bat- 
talion gathering for its deadly work after the train- 
ing is done ; you plod with it in Indian file along the 
Aux Reitz communication trench; you sprawl with 
the officers and men in the "jumping-ofF" trench; you 
wonder whether the missing jar of rum will turn up 
in time, and, finally, you go "over the top" with what 
amounts to a sigh of relief that the ghastly period 
of waiting has ended and that the "Zero Hour" will 
mark either the end or the beginning of a strangely 

7 



FOREWORD 

heroic experience. It is quite remarkable that a 
plain soldier should be able to give such life to his 
story. The achievement is a tribute to realism. 
Here is the truth, and nothing but the truth, so you 
accept every word for what it is worth, and are even 
glad to be spared the fine touches of the skilled lit- 
erary hand. 

I am sure Captain Belton and Lieutenant Odell^s 
book wiU be appreciated by a wide circle of readers 
in this country. A Canadian battalion and an 
American battalion must be close akin whether on 
the parade ground or in the battlefield. As these 
boys from Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg have 
done in France so will the boys do who hail from 
New York, Chicago, and the Far West. For that 
reason, and for many others quite as obvious, the 
appearance of this personal record of scenes and 
events in the Great War is peculiarly timely just 
now. I read the proofs at a sitting, and that, I 
know, is a certain test of the value of any book, be 
it grim fact or enticing fiction. 

Louis Teacy. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I. How We Prepare for an Attack . 


PAGE 

. 13 


II. 


The Attack 


. 31 


III. 


The Call of the Motherland 


. 72 


IV. 


We Move Forward 


. 86 


V. 


Hunting the Hun 


. 101 


VI. 


Trench Eoutine . 


. 127 


VII. 


Behind the Lines . 


. 157 


VIII. 


The Bull Ring 


. 171 


IX. 


The Red Cross and the Y. M. C. 


A. . 190 


X. 


Some Trench Songs 


. 204 


XI. 


Bits of War .... 


. 214 


XII. 


Towards a Bomb-Proof Job . 


. 247 


XIII. 


Tips for Recruits . 


. 263 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS 

PAGE 

Roadside scene on the British section of the ^ 

Western front .... Frontispiece 

Bringing up wire for a night working party . 39 / 

Going his last round at night. All is well in the 
support line 65 (^ 

A dog used to carry messages in the trenches . 121 • 

A tank in action . 143 -' 

Bayonet exercise at a training ground Some- 
where in France 181/ 

Releasing a pigeon with a message for help . 243 

How the tanks are parked in the tankdromes . 255 



HUNTING THE HUN 

CHAPTER I 

HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

WBffiN we make an attack on the Boche, we 
don't double over No Man's Land with bay- 
onets fixed, shouting and cheering and mak- 
ing a terrible din. To be sure, the bayonet 
plays an important part in this great war as a 
weapon of warfare, but it is only used when 
you get to close quarters. While a man has 
any cartridges left in his magazine, he is not 
likely to use the bayonet. 

A successful attack requires a great deal of 
preparation. Every detail has to be gone 
over very minutely, and every officer and man 
must know exactly what he has to do and be 
prepared to take all the chances and risks that 
go to make an attack successful. 

13 



HUNTING THE HUN 

A great deal of the enemy's barbed-wire 
entanglements must be cut down by means of 
constant artillery fire, which for days shells 
their wire and trenches. When the artillery 
has completed its work the infantry is told to 
be prepared to go "over the top." 

Each arm of the service is assigned a share 
in the work in the "Big Push." The engi- 
neers have various duties to perform, such as 
the planning and building of roads to allow 
the guns to move up with the advance of the 
infantry. In this work they are assisted by 
the pioneer and labour battaHons. 

The army service corps looks after the 
rations, supplies, etc., working in conjunction 
with the ammunition columns and other 
branches of the service. We have, therefore, 
a true cooperative spirit, each branch doing its 
share of duty in its own particular way. 

The infantry is the queen arm of the serv- 
ice and the most important one. All other 
arms of the service are aids to assist it. In 
this great war, good artillery support is essen- 

U 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

tial. On March 15, 1917, 1 arrived back to my 
battalion from a course of instruction that I 
had been attending at Pernes, which is one of 
the many schools of instruction where officers 
and men are sent for special courses. I 
located my battalion after considerable trouble 
at Masnil Bouche, a small village. 

I reported to the commanding officer of the 
battahon who assigned me to No. 2 Platoon of 
*'A" Company. It was raining as usual — it 
seems to rain in the northern part of France 
every day from the middle of October until 
the early part of April. My company com- 
mander brought me over to my billet, which 
was an old-fashioned, low roof stone house. 
It was occupied by an old woman and two of 
her daughters who kept an estaminet for the 
benefit of the troops, and incidentally a source 
of income for themselves. 

We entered the doorway and passed along 
a passageway to the rear of the house leading 
to a room about ten feet square. Until the 
morning of April 8th six officers slept in this 

15 



HUNTING THE HUN 

small pla<;e. It also served the purpose of 
officers* company mess room, and some of the 
jmiior officers of "B" Company joined our 
mess on account of lack of acconmiodations, as 
there were only a few available houses in 
Masnil Bouche. 

The room had one double bed, which the 
company commander and second in com- 
mand of "A" Company occupied. The 
junior officers slept on the stone floor. Our 
kitchen was outside in what might have once 
been a chicken coop, adjoining the house, not 
many yards from the window of our room, 
through which our meals were served. The 
kitchen could not even boast of a stone floor — 
underfoot was nothing but MUD, MUD, 
MUD! 

I was very glad to meet my brother officers 
as they came in for dinner that night. It is 
usual in France to have individual company 
mess, but as previously mentioned, being 
cramped for accommodation, "B" Company's 
junior officers had joined our mess. 

16 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

We were a very merry group, everyone in 
excellent spirits, which reminded me of a little 
song that we all hum in France: "A Merry 
Life, but a Short One." Two of the very offi- 
cers who dined at our mess were killed at Vimy 
Ridge on April 9th. 

The following morning at 9 A.M., "A" 
Company was drawn up in close column of 
platoons, in fighting order, ready for company 
inspection. It was raining slightly and very 
muddy underfoot. The men were equipped 
as they would be to go "over the top." 

Only three platoons were drawn up for com- 
pany inspection. It is customary for one 
platoon per company, each in its turn, to re- 
main out of the line. These platoons with 
their officers form the nucleus of a new bat- 
talion in case the battalion meets with heavy 
losses while in the trenches. They may also be 
called upon to reinforce their respective com- 
panies in the line. 

After each platoon had been carefully in- 
spected by their respective platoon com- 

17 



HUNTING THE HUN 

manders, and then by the company com- 
mander, we were marched off to our training 
ground, a distance of one kilometre, where 
there was an extensive stretch of open ground. 

When we reached our training area, we saw 
hundreds of yards of white tape^ two inches 
wide, stretched out before us. These tapes 
represented to us the outline of the German 
trenches which we were to attack and capture 
on Vimy Ridge. They lay on the ground in 
exactly the same position that we would later 
find the German trenches. 

A tape was laid to represent our battalion 
jumping-ojff trench. When I reached my 
platoon's position in the jumping-off trench 
I halted and formed line. We were then sup- 
posed to be in a shallow trench, two and one- 
half feet wide by four feet deep. For prac- 
tice purposes the "Zero Hour" was ten A.M. 
A few minutes before ten o'clock, a runner 
(this is a man whose special duty is to carry 
messages) gave me a message from my com- 
pany commander that we would make the 

18 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

practice attack and go "over the top" at two 
minutes past "Zero Hour" — that is, two min- 
utes past ten o'clock. ^ 

Our artillery was to lay a barrage on the 
first line of presumed German trenches at the 
same moment. A barrage is simply a moving 
wall of shell fire, which precedes the troops, 
who advance beneath the trajectory of the 
shells. We were to keep within fifty yards of 
our barrage in diamond formation. This bar- 
rage was indicated by men on the right and 
left flanks of our battalion frontage, which 
was a lateral distance of 335 yards. 

Our battalion furnished four waves, each 
wave having its own mission to accomplish — 
the whole battalion having one final objective. 

Men with flags would continue waving them 
until the barrage was supposed to lift, then 
they would double forward and indicate by 
their flags where the barrage was then falling. 

I was in the first wave, conrnaanding 'No. 2 
Platoon. The first and second waves, com- 
posed of "A" and "B" Companies, went 

19 



HUNTING THE HUN 

through until they reached the final objective. 
The "moppers up" came next and stopped and 
mopped up each trench in succession. We ad- 
vanced in diamond formation, then extended 
as we arrived within 50 yards of our barrage. 
When the barrage had lifted, we advanced in 
extended order, and made a rush for the pre- 
sumed German trenches, with the idea of sur- 
prising the Germans before they could get out 
of their dugouts. Each succeeding wave acted 
in a like manner, until our battalion obtained 
its final objective. We had four trenches to 
capture. The fourth German trench was our 
battalion's final objective and was named the 
Zwischen Stellung Trench. 

As the waves went "over the top" they were 
accompanied a short distance in the rear by 
some Stokes guns under the command of the 
brigade Stokes gun officer. These Stokes 
guns were trench mortars, of short range, but 
very fast firing guns. The shells are simply 
dropped down the muzzle of the gun and are 
discharged as they strike the base. They can 

20 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

do very good work, but to satisfy their appe- 
tite when they start going in earnest, it re- 
quires a great number of shells. 

Our first objective was a trench called the 
"Fringe Trench," and after we had captured 
this we then moved forward under our barrage. 
When it lifted we took our second objective, 
which was the Furze Trench. Our barrage 
lifting again, we advanced from the furze 
trench end captured a German support trench 
which had been dug by them recently. After 
capturing this trench, we then proceeded and 
captured our final objective, the Zwischen 
Stellung. On reaching the Zwischen Stellwng 
trench I was detailed with my platoon to 
bomb and to clean out any Germans I would 
find in part of a trench called the Grenadier 
Grab en, which was from the intersection at the 
Zwischen Stellung to the Lens-Arras road at 
right angles, which, of course, was beyond our 
battalion's final objective by 150 yards. Then I 
had to retire and dig in with my company some 
distance in front of the Zwischen Stellv/rig. 

21 



HUNTING THE HUN 

As each objective was gained by us, men 
were detailed to mark it with a signpost that 
was driven into the ground on top of the 
parapet. On this signpost was a yellow 
coloured tin square decorated with the Maple 
Leaf in black. 

A contact patrol aeroplane was assigned to 
our brigade for the purpose of reporting suc- 
cesses to General Headquarters some distance 
in the rear. Our signallers had red shutters on 
a white cloth background, and by means of cord 
and elastic bands they signalled to our contact 
aeroplane. 

Our aeroplane hovered over us at a com- 
paratively low elevation. Its work was cer- 
tainly very dangerous as it was liable to 
get in the way of the trajectory of the shells 
both from the enemy and ourselves. Our sig- 
nallers had instructions not to delay an instant 
sending the required signals. The contact 
patrol aeroplanes are slow-going machines as a 
rule. Ours was distinguished by two long 
streamers attached to struts of the wings of the 

22 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

machine. The observer is seen hanging over 
the side of the fuselage, tooting a Claxton horn 
in a series of dots and dashes, and watching 
every movement we make. He must circle 
around continually, as he cannot stop his 
aeroplane. 

For three weeks we practised going over 
the tapes. On the night of the 6th of April, 
the officers were informed that our Brigadier 
General would be over to inspect the battalion 
on the morning of the 7th. We were pleased 
to inform our boys of this news, as we all knew 
that the visit of the Brigadier General meant 
we were to go in the line for attack very soon. 
Every officer and man was keyed up to con- 
cert pitch with excitement. We had no 
thoughts of death — we were to do a man's 
work in a man's way, and we were all eager 
for the fray. Many times we had observed 
the German front line trenches through our 
periscopes in daylight. At times we had 
raided small sectors of their front line trench 
at night, and this front line and the other 

23 



HUNTING THE HUN 

trenches in the rear were soon to be captured 
and occupied by us. 

That night, three officers and one hundred 
men were sent up the Hne to dig the jumping- 
ofF trench for our battalion. This trench was 
to be dug in No Man's Land a short distance 
in front of our front line trenches and well 
clear of our barbed-wire entanglements. The 
night before the attack we had to crawl out 
of our front line trenches, through our barbed 
wire, and then into this jumping-oif trench 
and lie there until the "Zero Hour." The Ger- 
mans did not dream we would be so near to 
them. 

The morning of the seventh arrived, and 
with it our Brigadier General McDonnel. He 
was an excellent soldier, well-liked and re- 
spected by both the officers and men of his 
brigade. He took a great interest in the 
planning of this attack and gave good advice 
to both officers, N.C.O.'s and men. He then 
inspected the battalion which had been drawn 
up in mass formation. After inspection, he 

24 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

complimented both officers and men on their 
soldierly bearing and smart appearance. He 
then outlined briefly the plan of attack and 
informed us that we would be going into the 
line (when we go into the trenches, we always 
say we are going into the line, whether it is the 
front, support or reserve trenches) the follow- 
ing night, April 8th. He requested that both 
officers and men should treat this information 
as confidential. Wishing every officer and 
man who were to participate in the attack the 
"best of luck," he told us that there was no 
doubt in his mind of our success in capturing 
Vimy Ridge. The men were then given the 
balance of the morning to spend as they saw 
fit around their billets. 

In the afternoon the battalion fell in for 
church service, and most of us took communion 
— some for the last time on this earth. The 
scene was very impressive as our Padre or 
Chaplain read the service and rendered a very 
appropriate sermon for the occasion. Can 
you imagine what this sermon meant to those 

25 



HUNTING THE HUN 

brave men out there on the battlefield? No 
mother, wife, sister or sweetheart should ever 
think that their men folk lose their religion 
when they go to war. Out there, we have a 
deep sense of religion which is entirely differ- 
ent from the religion of the folks at home. We 
all know what we have to face, and we strive 
to keep our mind and thought on the highest 
ideas of religious belief. The mothers, wives, 
sisters and sweethearts of the brave men who 
fell at Vimy Ridge can be consoled by knov/ing 
that their men entered into the Kingdom of 
Peace prepared to meet their Maker. Their 
epitaph is, "They did their bit, and rest con- 
tent." 

Colonel, the Rev. Canon F. G. Scott, of the 
1st Canadian Division, has been in the fighting 
zone since the 1st contingent arrived in France. 
Two of his own sons were fighting in the 
trenches, one of them was killed and the other 
wounded. Colonel Scott is a poet of consider- 
able note and in April, 1917, he wrote "The 

26 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

Silent Toast," in remembrance of the brave 
boys who fell in the attack on Vimy Ridge. 

All the officers of the brigade who were to 
participate in the "Big Push" were invited 
over to Brigade Headquarters that evening by 
the Brigadier General. We were shown some 
aerial photographs of the German trenches 
that had been very recently taken, and given 
more minute details of the attack, with the 
information that the *'Zero Hour" would be 
5.30 A.M., and that the first wave was to go 
"over the top" at one minute past "Zero Hour." 
The reason that the first wave was to go over at 
one minute past "Zero Hour" was to give time 
to the barrage to play three minutes on the 
German front line. We thus had two minutes 
to work under the barrage before it lifted to 
the next objective. As it lifted, we would make 
a rush for our first objective and follow our 
barrage to within 50 yards. The "Zero Hour" 
was to be kept secret. 

The General then gave us a history of Vimy 
Ridge, again telling us he was certain, on ac- 

27 



HUNTING THE HUN | 

count of the wonderful artillery support we 
would have, that we would gain all our oh- 
objectives. How true his words were is now 
history. 

Between the city of Arras, held by the 
French and British, and the city of Lens, held 
by the Germans, was Vimy Ridge which 
stretched north, west and southwest in front 
of the village of Vimy. Since 1914, the Ger- 
mans had held it, resisting all Allied assaults. 
Its strategical importance was fully recog- 
nized by both the Allies and the Germans. 
Every artificial means had been taken to in- 
crease its natural strength, the best scien- 
tific devices of fortifications had been made use 
of by the Germans, and for two years it had 
defied all attacks. 

The French vainly attacked it all through 
the month of December, 1914, and January, 
1915. General Foch in May, 1915, delivered 
several attacks known as the Battle of Sou- 
chez. He gained a little ground on the lower 
slopes, but failed to weaken to any extent the 

28 



HOW WE PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK 

Main Ridge. In September, 1915, while the 
British were making an attack around and 
near Loos, the French under General Foch 
once more attacked the Ridge. Again they 
failed. As long as the Germans retained 
Vimy Ridge, their line was secure in this quar- 
ter, so its retention allowed them to contem- 
plate with a certain degree of equanimity 
withdrawals of troops from the line. On either 
side of the Ridge, it was flanked with Lens on 
the north, and Arras on the south — ^both cities 
under distant artillery fire. 

The Canadian corps was working in con- 
junction with the Imperial troops, and the 
attack by the British troops, including the 
Canadians, extended from Givenchy-en-Go- 
helle to Henin-sur-Cojaul, an approximate 
distance of fifteen miles. The actual assault 
upon Vimy Ridge which was four to five 
miles long was entrusted to the Canadians. 
The forces engaged in this advance were to be 
commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Ed- 

29 



HUNTING THE HUN 

mund Allenbury and Lieutenant- General 
H. S. Home. The Canadians in the First 
Army Corps were under the command of 
Major-General Byng. He is now in command 
of the Third British Army with the rank of 
Lieutenant-General. 



CHAPTER II 

THE ATTACK 

On the morn of the 8th of April, reveille 
was sounded at 4:15 A.M. as everything had 
to be packed up. All the surplus kits were 
loaded on transport wagons. Every officer 
and man was busy looking after his personal 
effects and cleaning up the billets, for every- 
thing must be left in as good shape and order 
as when we moved in. The boys were in high 
spirits and glad of the opportunity to demon- 
strate again the quality of the New World 
troops. At about 9:00 A.M. the bugle 
sounded and the battalion fell in. Each pla- 
toon was carefully inspected. Our acting com- 
manding officer. Major R , spoke a few 

words to the whole battalion, telling us that we 
would uphold all traditions of the Canadian 
i^rniy* and that he was sure our battalion 

31 



HUNTING THE HUN 

would prove to be one of the best in France. 
He felt certain we would gain all our objec- 
tives. He then wished us the "best of luck" 
and, as it was his turn to remain out of the line, 
he handed the command over to the acting 
second in command of the battalion, Major 

M . 

It was a bright day and the roads had com- 
menced to dry up. For a short distance, our 
battalion marched along making very slow 
progress, asf the highway was being used by 
motor transports, most of them carrying am- 
munition for the "Big Push." Behind a few 
of these there were some big guns, ever coming 
forward. The road was alive with excitement 
— the very atmosphere reeked with it. Every 
one felt the crisis was at hand. As we moved 
slowly along the road in detachments of 
platoons in columns of fours, or two deep, 
our progress was in consequence extremely 
slow. Our guides had been sent out to find 
out the best cross-country road to reach our 
brigade assembling point. Each platoon had 

32 



THE ATTACK 

its own guide. We were led by them off the 
main road across country to the eastern slope 
of Mount St. Eloi which we reached at noon 
of the same day. 

We halted and took off our equipment to 
await for dusk. Other platoons were continu- 
ally arriving. The men had their dinner, and 
then made themselves as comfortable as pos- 
sible, some went to sleep and others wrote let- 
ters, many for the last time. 

By four in the afternoon battalions of our 
brigade and of other brigades had arrived and 
were thickly scattered along the slope of 
Mount St. Eloi. Some bands were playing. 
A short distance away from us at the foot of 
Mount St. Eloi a large Y. M. C. A. marquee 
was being well patronised by our boys. After 
the various brigade bands would stop playing, 
I could hear faintly the soft tones of the Y. M. 
C. A. organ mingled with the voices of the 
boys singing a hymn. 

We had our supper at 6 P.M. and again 
inspected our platoons most carefully. The 

33 



HUNTING THE HUN 

gas helmets had to be examined thoroughly to 
see that they were in perfect condition, that 
the goggles were not cracked or broken and 
that the gas fmnes could not penetrate through 
any part of the mask. All the officers' watches 
were carefully synchronised from brigade 
time. The small box respirator was put on in 
the alert position. Every man had to show 
that he had his iron rations and extra rations 
to last for two days. 

After inspection, it was fast approaching 
dusk. At 7 :45 P.M. we formed up and moved 
off in detachments of platoons at distances of 
100 yards. 

We marched up the slope of Mount St. 
Eloi. A little over half way, we came to a 
bush road. This we followed until we reached 
the main road. This road led us through part 
of the badly shelled little town of Mount St. 
Eloi. As we reached the top of the summit, 
on the right of the road could be seen the ruins 
of the church and monastery of Mount St. 
Eloi. The monastery had been founded by 

34 



THE ATTACK 

St. Eloi in the year six hundred and forty and 
reconstructed in the eighteenth century. 
Previous to the present war, only the facing 
walls of the church were standing, but the 
Germans demolished these walls by shell fire 
as well as the surrounding buildings, formerly 
occupied by the clergy and civilians. Mount 
St. Eloi Church, a very prominent object on 
the landscape, we had used for an observation 
post. 

It was now 8 :30 P.M. and quite dark. We 
started to descend the slope. As I looked 
ahead of me, I could see the German white 
flares, also their green and red rockets going 
up, and could see the bursting of the shrapnel 
and its flash, and hear the thunder of both ours 
and the enemy's artillery. 

It was an awe-inspiring spectacle. To the 
right of the road the ammunition column men 
on mules were hauling to the various artillery 
dumps large and small shells, fodder for hun- 
gry guns that were to give us victory the next 
day. As we passed these men they wished 

35 



HUNTING THE HUN 

us the "best of luck," shouting some friendly 

remarks such as "We are working like h 

for you boys; see that you give Fritz h ■ 

to-morrow!" 

We left the main road and started across 
open fields until we reached at right angles 
the Arras-Bethune road, directly opposite was 
the entrance of the Aux Rietz communication 
trench. A few hundred yards to our left, 
along the Arras-Bethune road stood once the 
little village of La Targette, and on the oppo- 
site side, NeuviUe St. Vaast. Now nothing 
remained but masses of fallen masonry caused 
by the continuous bombardments both by the 
Allies when these towns were occupied by the 
Germans, and then by the Huns when they 
were driven back, and the Alhes occupied 
them. 

The Aux Reitz communication trench was 
what we called an ingoing communication 
trench. The leading platoon had started up 
the coromunication trench — ^my platoon came 
next. As I was crossing the road at the head 

36 



THE ATTACK 

of my platoon, now in single file, I formed a 
mental picture of what I saw before me. It 
was about 10 P.M. and pitch dark. Our shells 
were bursting in the German trenches and 
wire entanglements. On our right forward 
flank, the Germans were signalling by means 
of green rockets. They were an exceedingly 
pretty and spectacular display of fireworks, 
as these green rockets would go up and, after ' 
attaining a certain height, they would burst 
and a tail of green stars would appear. 

The Germans very often use their golden 
spray rocket for the S.O.S. signal, but they 
are liable to change from time to time, as is 
also our habit. 

Here and there I could see fires where the 
German ammunition dumps had been blown 
up by our shell fire. Then I would suddenly 
hear the quick hissing sound of German shells 
upon our right and left flanks along the Arras- 
Bethune road. The Huns were shelling our 
back area. 

Our battalion scout officer. Lieutenant 
37 



HUNTING THE HUN 

B , who had preceded us, was du*ecting 

each platoon from the top of the communica- 
tion trench, past the various intersections of 
the C. T.* Lieut. B was very much ex- 
posed and in a more dangerous position than 
any of us who were in the trench, but he did 
not seem to mind it. I could hear above me 
the swish, swish, swish of the German shells 
and the rat-tat-tat of their machine guns. As 
the machine gun bullets struck the top of the 
trench above us, small clods of earth would 
fall in our midst. 

As previously mentioned, the Aux Reitz 
communication trench had a regular maze of 
trenches branching off from it. At the inter- 
section were signboards on which were painted 
the names of each trench and where they led 
to. Quite a number of the trenches were with- 
out these signboards. They had probably 
been knocked off the side of the trench in some 
manner. Nevertheless, our scout officer 
guided us correctly in the intense darkness. 

* Communication trench. 

38 



m 



THE ATTACK 

Our C. T. was about seven feet deep in some 
places and five feet wide, but this varied. It 
was the usual zig-zag formation. Under our 
feet in some places were trench mats.* 

We had proceeded up the communication 
trench for some 300 yards when word was 
passed along to me from the rear to double in 
front, as the entrance of the communication 
trench was being shelled by the Huns and that 
there were some casualties due to the conges- 
tion. As the whole brigade was coming up 
in single file and each man had to run across 
the exposed Arras-Bethune road to get into 
the communication trench, they were anxious 
to obtain the protection from shell fire that 
the trench would afford. I passed the word 
along to the platoon commander of No. 1 
platoon, which had the desired effect. We 
started at a steady double march, bending 
under small culverts, through little rivulets of 
water, slipping and sliding over the muddy 

^ * Trench mats are usually 8 feet long by 2^ feet broad and are 
amply flooring boards about 2 inches broad which are nailed about 
two inches apart to a strong scantling 3x3 inches thick. 

41 



HUNTING THE HUN 

trench mats when we found them mider our 
feet. Ofttimes we would suddenly find our- 
selves up to our hips in muddy water. 

A considerable number of telephone wires 
crossed our C. T. Some sagged and were in 
line with our faces. In the darkness they were 
hard to see, and if one was unfortunate enough 
to get caught by the wire under his chin he 
would have good cause to remember it. Word 
was being continually passed along as obsta- 
cles were encountered, such as, "Wire over- 
head," "Wire underfoot," "Step down," "Step 
up," etc. This information was appreciated 
by those in the rear. After doubling for 
about 500 yards, word was passed along to me 
that the "line was broken." This meant 
that we had left behind us some of the boys 
who could not run as fast as those in front. 
This usually happens to the section of Lewis 
gunners who have their gun equipment to 
carry, which is much heavier than what the 
men have to carry in the other sections. We 
therefore had to halt for a few minutes until 

42 



THE ATTACK 

they caught up to us. At last we reached the 
end of our trench. To the right and left, we 
could see the boys on sentry duty, holding the 
front line trench. On the fire step men were 
sitting or lying down trying to get a few 
minutes' sleep. These were the men who had 
to hold the front line trenches at all costs. 
We were what is commonly known as the 
"storming troops." 

By the time we had reached the front line 
trenches, approximately 300 yards from the 
German front line, their white flares were 
going up in profusion, and while these flares 
were up, it was almost as light as day. We 
passed down the lines the usual caution, "Be 
sure when the flare light breaks to keep your 
body perfectly rigid and your face down as 
you go over No Man's Land to the jumping- 
ofl* trench." 

Someone passed the word from the 
rear that the jar of rum which is al- 
lotted to each platoon and which is usually 
in charge of the platoon commander had been 

43 



HUNTING THE HUN 

ditched (thrown away). I looked around for 
my hatman to whom I had entrusted it, and 
I was informed he had gone ahead over No 

Man's Land with Lieutenant B in order 

to select my position in the jumping-off 
trench. When last seen he had the jar of rima 
with him. The rum is usually given out at 
"stand to" both in the morning and evening, 
one hour before dawn and one hour before 
dusk. After being in the wet and cold, it 
both braces and stimulates the men. 

While we were crouching and doubling over 
the ground from shell hole to shell hole, one 
after the other German white flares would go 
up and burst. We were seen by the Huns, 
who, probably thinking it might be a raiding 
party, turned their machine guns upon us. 
Those who happened to be outside of a shell 
hole fell flat, and awaited for orders. All 
this time our shells were dropping upon the 
German wire entanglements and front line 
trenches, which were then about 250 yards 



THE ATTACK 

away from where we were out in No Man's 
Land. 

The German machine guns were searching 
out the whole of this territory. For fully one 
hour we were glued to the ground. 

As the "Zero Hour" was 5.30 A.M. we had 
lots of time to reach the jumping-off trench, 
yet, I could overhear remarks in a low tone of 
voice about the rum. It was still worrying 
the men. They were quite used to the machine 
gun bullets, and their only thought was how 
they might be cheated by fate of a small tot of 
rum before going "over the top." 

I was then in a shell hole that was very 
shallow. As I looked over the lip of it, I saw 
someone making his way in short rushes to- 
wards me. The man I saw was Lieutenant 

B . He was trying to locate me amidst 

all the shell holes. I went over to meet him. 
He told me that everything was all right and 
that the battalion had only four casualties who 
were taken out of the line. He then gave me 

45 



HUNTING THE HUN 

exact directions to my place in the jumping- 
off trench. 

There was a lull in the firing at this time, 
so I passed the word behind to the boys to ad- 
vance and follow me closely. 

Just then, the Germans opened up with 
machine-gun fire, and word was passed up for 
the stretcher bearer. That meant a man 
wounded and at this time it was very awk- 
ward. I could not spare my stretcher bearer, 
as we were going to advance, and again I could 
not allow a wounded man to die for want of 
attention. Neither could I endanger the lives 
of the men in my platoon more than was neces- 
sary for that of one man. However, I pointed 
out to the stretcher bearer who had crawled 
from a shell hole near by, his location on the 
ground and gave him an idea where he would 
find our platoon in the jumping-ofF trench. 
I told him if the man could walk to give him 
first aid if necessary, but if he could not walk, 
to see that word would be passed back to the 

46 



THE ATTACK 

firing line in the rear and have them send out 
stretcher bearers. 

We crawled for a distance, and as there 
were no German white flares going up during 
this interval, we doubled up in a half crouching 
position until we reached and tumbled into our 
jumping-off trench. As I looked at my 
limiinous watch, I noticed it was exactly mid- 
night. We were packed like sardines in this 
little trench not more than 2% feet wide by 
four feet. But that mattered not — we were 
nearing our goal. 

I was reminded by the boys that they had 
not seen the rum carrier, my batman Lamb. 
I was also anxious to see him, so I passed the 
word along to my right and left flank that if 
anyone did see him, they were to tell him 
where I was located. A few minutes later, as 
a German white flare was sent up, I saw a 
figure crouching along the trench. It was 
Lamb, and under his arm he had the jar of 
rum. I heaved a sigh of relief, and Lamb at 
that particular moment was a very popular 

47 



HUNTING THE HUN 

man. I could hear the boys passing the glad 
word down the line, "Good old Lamb has got 
the rum! Lamb's got the rum!" 

I made room for Lamb to get beside me in 
the trench. The Huns then began shelling 
our front line trenches in the rear of us with 
"Minnenwerfers," "rum-jars," and "fish-tails." 
The latter are short range trench shells that 
have a high trajectory and make considerable 
noise when they explode. I could feel the hot 
air as they went over my head. 

Our guns were shelling the German trenches, 
so that we were between both fires without any 
overhead protection. The Germans, never 
dreaming for a moment that we were so close 
to them, kept on shelling to the rear of us. 
They imagined we were still in the front line 
trenches. We carefully posted sentries and 
warned them to listen for any noise, such as 
hammering on the faucets of gas drums, as 
the wind was favourable for the Germans to 
attempt a gas wave attack. 

I began to think how many of us would 
48 



THE ATTACK 

come through this show, for I knew we had a 
tough proposition before us. I then remem- 
bered that my stretcher bearer had not re- 
turned, so I told my platoon sergeant to find 
out where he was, A little later, he appeared 
above the parados and got in beside us in the 
trench with his stretcher. 

Too much praise cannot be given to the 
stretcher bearers. They are unarmed and 
many of them are killed. The moment a man 
is wounded, a stretcher bearer rushes to his 
assistance ; no matter how heavy the bombard- 
ment may be, he is in the thick of the fight 
attending to the wounded and dying. All 
men in the ranks know the old familiar cry, 
"Stretcher bearer, stretcher bearer, on the 
double." Then we know it is blighty for 
someone; it may be a mere scratch, or it may 
mean death. 

I had often gone over 'No Man's Land at 
nighti and looked over it through my periscope 
in the daytime, but this was going to be my 
first time "over the top" in daylight. I did 



HUNTING THE HUN 

not feel afraid, yet I was naturally anxious 
as to what I should feel like, and also how my 
platoon would act under the ordeal. No man 
but one who has gone "over" can describe or 
try to make anyone realise the feeling. One 
wishes to get it over quickly; the time seems to 
drag until that moment, and then it seems to 

fly. 

Suddenly, I was aroused from my reverie 
by a voice that sounded between us and our 
own firing line. I listened, and heard the 
same voice shout out these startling words, 

"Where in h is the end of this damned 

ditch?" The voice was clear and distinct and 
betrayed no sign of nervousness or fear. The 
Huns were strafing our front lines, we all 
knew he was not a soldier, therefore, he must 
be a civilian, and we wondered why he was out 
here. Then again he would have called a 
trench a trench, and not a ditch. I heard one 
of the boys say, "Well, he must have some 
nerve, whoever he is!" and then I heard an- 
other say, "I'm going to take a peep at the 

50 



THE ATTACK 

man." Another said, "He may be a German 
spy." I could see it was up to me to do some- 
thing, so I told my platoon sergeant to take 
charge and gave instruction to the men to keep 
their heads down below the parapet. 

With my batman I cautiously proceeded in 
the direction of the voice. Just then, I saw a 
civilian with a steel helmet on his head and 
a small box respirator on his chest. He was 
about 30 yards away from me and appeared to 
be carrying a machine gun. I raised my Colt 
automatic pistol and was ready to fire; the 
batman had also drawn a bee-line on him with 
his rifle. I called to him to come forward with 
his hands up and to drop what I thought was 
his gun, or I would kill him. He shouted 
back, "Don't shoot, friend, don't shoot. I'm a 
moving picture man and an American; I am 
going to take moving pictures of you fellows 
as you go 'over the top' and get the Germans 
on the run. I feel quite proud to be with you 
boys." 

I went over to the shell hole and, by the aid 
51 



HUNTING THE HUN 

of my luminous prismatic compass and the 
flares of the Germans, I examined his papers 
and found them in order. It appeared that he 
had been following a battalion up the commun- 
ication trench. As they started to double for- 
ward, he had been left behind. He was deter- 
mined to see the show through and be in the 
thick of it, taking our pictures as we proceeded 
to advance with our barrage in the attack. 
He was certainly a very cool customer. Un- 
armed, he was taking all kinds of risks in order 
to take the pictures of the boys as they went 
over. He told me the battalion he was sup- 
posed to be with, so I gave him one of my 
men as a guide and told him where to go. 

If this is a sample of the Americans who 
have gone over to France to fight with us, then 
all I can say is that the Boche will have a 
hard time when the boys from the United 
States of America go "over the top.'* 

I returned to my place in the trench and 
told the boys about the movie man. It cer- 
tainly amused them. Lamb in the meantime 

52 



THE ATTACK 

commenced to dig with his entrenching tool 
foot holes in the trench for me. I noticed he 
had done the same thing for himself. All the 
other boys did likewise. This was to facilitate 
our getting out of the trench quickly at the last 
moment. 

It was now four o'clock, still very dark, and 
I decided this was the best time to give the 
boys their tot of rum. This was welcome news 
indeed. It is the duty of every platoon com- 
mander to personally issue the regulation al- 
lowance of rum to each one of his men. As 
there was not sufficient room to allow passage- 
way along the trench, my batman and I 
jumped out and worked our way along both 
flanks of the platoon. We served each man 
with his allowance of this beneficial fluid. I 
was glad when this task was over as it was slow 
work, and at any moment I expected we might 
be spotted by the Huns, especially as they 
were sending up large numbers of white flares. 
We had to assume all kinds of rigid, gro- 
tesque positions until the flares died out. 

53 



HUNTING THE HUN 

The Huns are great on fireworks. It is 
very seldom we send up a white flare. The 
Huns seem to have an unlimited quantity. 
They give us all the light we require — very 
often too much. Their nerves are on edge, as 
they are in constant dread of our raiding par- 
ties. I was glad to get back to my place in 
the ditch, as the American called it. 

I looked at my watch and noticed it was 
5:20 A.M. It was raining slightly. Our 
boys in the front line were no doubt "standing 
to." German white flares were still going up, 
also a few of their green and red rockets. I 
passed the word down the trench to "fix 
bayonets." 

I could faintly see the men near me. They 
seemed to be impatiently looking at their 
watches; daylight was fast approaching. I 
kept looking down at my watch; again as I 
looked up I noticed the men's faces. It was 
hard to make out the lines, but I could see that 
their lips were tightly drawn with grim deter- 
mination to do their duty at all costs! I over- 

54 



THE ATTACK 

heard a remark made by one of the men to his 
companion and it was, "If I don't come out 
of this show, Bill, tell my mother I died game !" 
His friend's reply was, "I will! If I don't, 
and you do, tell mine the same!" I felt a thrill 
of pride when I overheard those words which 
gave me an idea of the calibre of the men fight- 
ing with me. 

I placed my whistle in my mouth, ready to 
blow, my pistol loaded and at the safety, ready 
to be used in a second if required. 

Exactly at 5:30 we heard the swish, swish, 
swish of our shells pass over our heads on their 
journey of destruction and defeat to the front 
line of the Germans. I had trouble to make 
the boys wait the one minute that was neces- 
sary. Finally I blew my whistle, I knew they 
could not hear it, but I pointed in the direction 
of the enemy and everyone was "over the top" 
like a shot. I cannot describe how I felt. 
My blood ran quickly, my head seemed to 
throb, and my heart felt as if it was going to 
come through my chest. 

55 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Tlie screaming from the large number of 
shells that our artillery were firing over our 
heads was terrific. Our barrage was intense. 
No human being could live in that hell of fire. 
I saw the frantic appeals of the Germans who 
were sending up their S. O. S. signals, besides 
rockets of every colour of the rainbow. 

But their appeal was too late. We had sur- 
prised them. No power on earth could save 
them ; our barrage was perfect and we worked 
under it steadily. The training over the tapes 
was partly forgotten. We were eager to reach 
the Hun trenches; we were out for blood! 
God, how awful it seemed! Men fell around 
me gasping, sputtering; but we still moved on 
relentlessly. 

When vrithin fifty yards of the barrage, I 
signalled to the men to extend. I didn't know 
how many men I had lost. I saw my platoon 
sergeant fall just after we had gotten over 
the top. As they fell, other men took their 
plaeeis from other units. These men had lost 

56 



THE ATTACK 

their officers and placed themselves under me. 
I directed them and we moved again. 

Our barrage played four shells per minute 
on a lateral space of 20 yards. The intense 
bombardment in front of us sent German 
limbs, bodies and earth all sky high. 

Then our barrage lifted to the German sup- 
port trench, which was called the Fringe 
Trench. As our barrage lifted, we rushed 
forward, and immediately took our first objec- 
tive. Here we halted for one minute to allow 
our barrage to play upon the Fringe Trench 
without exposing ourselves unnecessarily. 
This was in accordance with orders. 

One of the men who joined my platoon from 
another battalion met in this trench an old 
schoolmate who was in my platoon. As they 
were close to me, I overheard the following 
dialogue as they shouted to one another: 

My boy shouted to the other man, "Hello, 
Tom, what are you doing out here?" 

The reply was: "I like to fight. Bill, as I 
always did when I was at school, and being a 

57 



HUNTING THE HUN 

single man, I came out here to Hunt the 
Huns." On asking Bill what brought him 
out, he gave the startling reply that he was 
married. He had married a widow with a 
large family. He liked peace and he therefore 
came here to get it. Each of them had what 
he wished for ! 

We followed on until we were within fifty 
yards of our barrage, which had to play five 
minutes on this trench. At such a distance, 
the air is hot and oppressive. I signalled to the 
boys not to go too fast for fear of moving into 
our own shell fire. As the barrage lifted, we 
doubled and jumped into the Fringe Trench, 
our second objective. There was no opposition. 
Quite a number of German dead lay about the 
trench. 

As we continued our advance from the 
Fringe Trench to gain our third objective, I 
noticed a German soldier advancing towards 
us. He appeared to be about 18 years of age, 
and had his steel helmet on. His gas mask 
box was thrown over his shoulder. He did 

58 



THE ATTACK 

not appear to be armed and, as he advanced 
with his hands up I thought I heard him shout 
what I presumed to be "Kamerad, Kameradr 
How he escaped our barrage was a miracle. I 
passed him on to the rear. 

Suddenly I was surprised to hear machine 
gun bullets strike the ground around me. 
Two of my boys fell face forward, wounded. 
We immediately all fell flat and I at once 
thought that someone had blundered. I nat- 
urally thought it might be possible that it was 
our own machine gunners, as we had not ob- 
served any machine gun emplacements as we 
advanced. 

I cautiously crawled around on my stomach, 
and I saw not far in our rear the top of some 
German steel helmets. I knew at once that 
we had passed by and overlooked a German 
machine gun emplacement. 

I divided the platoon into two sections. 
We crawled back to the right and left flank 
of this machine gun emplacement. Our 
moppers up, one company of the 22nd 

59 



HUNTING THE HUN 

French Canadian Battalion, had not time to 
get to this point. When within striking 
distance, we fired a few rifle grenades and 
threw some bombs. Then all was silent from 
that quarter and we knew that the bombs had 
done the trick. I went over to this German 
machine gun emplacement. It was a "Mebu" 
type and our artillery had knocked the top 
ofl* it. I found that we had exterminated the 
whole squad with the exception of the machine 
gun officer, who was badly wounded. He was 
half reclining and half kneeling on what was 
left of his machine gun. He struggled to his 
feet and came to attention as I reached him. 
He expected that we would shoot him, but we 
of the Anglo-Saxon race play the game fair. 
So I had him sent to the officer who had com- 
mand of another company that had to look 
after prisoners. We had now lost time; we 
turned, doubled forward and gained our third 
objective. Our barrage had lifted for two in- 
tervals of 100 yards and was now playing upon 

60 



THE ATTACK 

the Zmschen Stellv/ng trench, our battalion's 
final objective. 

We had now some distance to go. As we 
proceeded with our advance, I heard a loud 
shout from the boys, who excitedly pointed to 
the rear. But this time, it was with a feeling 
of relief that I saw four tanks looming up in 
the distance. They were firing away beyond 
us at the retreating Huns. Our barrage was 
still playing upon the Zwischen Stelltmg 
trench. We moved along quickly. I noticed 
the boys were coolly smoking cigarettes. 

All at once the barrage lifted. We rushed 
for the German trench. This was the first 
time we had met with resistance from the Ger- 
mans, but we had followed so closely to the 
barrage that we were upon them before they 
realised it. What little opposition we did 
have, we quickly brushed aside. 

Finally, I located my objective, the Grena- 
dier Grahen. As I was proceeding up this 
trench with the men I had left, I heard some 
shouting. It seemed to come from the bowels 

61 



HUNTING THE HUN 

of the earth. I looked on the side of the 
trench and then saw what appeared to be the 
entrance of a dugout. It was ahnost blocked 
by earth caused by our artillery fire. I got 
the men to cautiously clear away the earth and 
then heard the familiar cry of "Kamerad^ 
Kameradr My knowledge of the German 
language is limited, but I knew this meant 
surrender. 

Very soon we cleared the entrance and 
a German officer appeared. He spoke in 
German. As I did not understand German, 
I tried him in French. This language he 
spoke fluently. He held his hands up and I 
asked him to come out, which he did. He was 
an officer of the 263rd Bavarians, a tall, hand- 
some man with blue eyes, fair hair, and a small 
fair moustache. He asked me if he could 
speak to an officer. I at that time was wear- 
ing a private's tunic with the insignia of my 
rank on my shoulders. I told him I was an 
officer. 

Then he informed me that he wished to sur- 
62 



THE ATTACK 

render himself and twenty-two men who were 
still in the dugout. He knew that resistance 
was useless. He told me that our barrage had 
been terrible, that their own salvation was to 
get into their dugout, but that he thought the 
Germans would get Vimy Ridge back again 
by June. He omitted to say in what year. 
He then handed me over his pistol, and also 
asked me if I would accept his binoculars as 
a souvenir, which I did. I then told him to tell 
his men to drop their firearms and to come out 
in single file with their hands up. As soon 
as we had them all searched, I turned them 
over to the officer in charge of prisoners who 
gave me a receipt for one officer and twenty- 
two men. 

I heard later that they safely reached the 
prisoners' cage at La Targette, from where 
they would be sent to the usual detention 
camps. The moppers up had by this time 
reached a trench near by and I noticed that 
if the Huns did not surrender promptly, no 
chances were taken to allow them to act 

63 



HUNTING THE HUN 

treacherously. A few Mills' bombs thrown 
down the German dugouts would soon do the 
work with the aid of the Lewis machine gun 
fire. 

About 4 P.M. I commenced to dig a small 
narrow trench in front of the Zwischen 
Stellung. While the boys were digging, my 
corporal, now acting platoon sergeant, asked 
me if I would like a drink of hot coflfee. I 
replied, "Yes," and at the same time said, 
"What is the use of asking me, when you 
know we could not get it on account of the 
attack." However, I was agreeably surprised 
to hear him say, "There is plenty of coffee, sir, 
enough to do the whole platoon if you are not 
afraid of being poisoned as it has been left by 
the Germans in one of their dugouts." I 
therefore asked an officer from a nearby 
platoon to keep in touch with my men and 
informed him I would be back in a few min- 
utes, as everything was quiet at that time. 
Taking my batman and three men, I was led 
by my acting platoon sergeant around shell 

64 



THE ATTACK 

craters and shell holes to the ZxviscTien Stell- 
ung trench until we came to the mud-blocked 
entrance of a German dugout. We cleared 
away a Httle more of the mud. I noticed to 
the right of the entrance a large bell and a 
horn very much like a Claxton horn. These, 
no doubt, were sounded by the Huns when we 
made our gas wave attacks upon them. 

We descended the staircase, which was at 
an angle of about 55 degrees, until we reached 
the bottom. There we came to a door with a 
sliding window. As we turned a brass door 
knob and pushed open the door, candles were 
burning on a desk and I saw a room about 12 
feet square, which had a wooden floor, a neat 
little rug under the desk, a few chairs, a com- 
fortable looking spring bed in the corner with 
the softest of woollen blankets. In another 
corner was a small stove with a well filled coal 
bin in the rear of it. A wash basin with 
running water, electric light fixtures, tele- 
phone, and the wooden walls were papered 
and bnrlapped. Over the desk was a picture 

67 



HUNTING THE HUN 

of the Kaiser. In addition there were Ger- 
man spiked hehnets and caps, uniforms, pis- 
tols, swords, binoculars, maps, one Iron Cross, 
postcards, magazines, newspapers. 

In the drawer of the desk, I found a small 
Eastman Kodak, an English dictionary, and a 
large quantity of note paper engraved with 
the emblem of the Iron Cross. I presume the 
winners of the Iron Cross were allowed to use 
this kind of stationery. In addition, I found 
the photograph of an N.C.O. of the 263rd Ba- 
varian Regiment. This man's body I subse- 
quently found in a shell hole directly on top of 
his dugout. He had evidently fought to a 
finish, as his rifle lay by his side with magazine 
empty. His gas helmet was suspended by a 
strap from his shoulder. On his tunic was the 
Iron Cross Ribbon. This photograph and 
ribbon I have in my possession at the present 
time. Later on, when we buried the body, we 
found a small .22 calibre Colt automatic pis- 
tol fastened to his belt. 

To the left of the staircase was another door 
68 



THE ATTACK 

which led along a passageway, both sides of 
which had rows of bunks. With the aid of 
the candles we had, I could see that there were 
several other exits or entrances, similar to the 
one we had come down. As I could not make 
out any signs of daylight from above, I judged 
that the entrances had been blocked by the ef- 
fect of our barrage. 

As we neared what I then thought was the 
end of this passage, I saw some of the men of 
my battalion. They told me that they had per- 
mission to break away for an hour. These 
men were seated around a table having a good 
meal. They stood up as I approached. I 
told them to carry on. 

The Germans had used this room as a din- 
ing-room. There were several German can- 
dles burning briskly on the table. To the right 
was a small kitchen. Here one of the boys 
was frying German bacon and eggs. 

It was not long before I had a very good 
meal, a little of everything. In the German 
water bottles which were hung up along the 

69 



HUNTING THE HUN 

walls we found cold coffee, the aroma of which 
as it was heated was something to be remem- 
bered. My menu consisted of bacon and eggs, 
jellied meat, sausage, cakes and candies. 
There was also wine, mineral waters, Spanish 
cigars and a large number of red packages of 
gold tipped cigarettes marked "Puck." 

Needless to mention I brought a good feed 
back to my platoon. 

This German dugout we marked by sticking 
a Hun rifle and bayonet upright on top of the 
parapet with a German steel helmet over the 
butt of the rifle. We could see it from some 
distance, otherwise it would have been very 
hard to have found this dugout again at that 
particular time, as the ground was simply one 
mass of shell holes. You could not place a 
table eight feet square anywhere in this local- 
ity where it would not slide into a shell hole. 
As the sergeant was making the landmark on 
the top of the dugout, I noticed the body of 
the Hun whose photograph I had. This dug- 
out was named the "Berliner House." The 

70 



THE ATTACK 

following day we made it our company head- 
quarters. It accommodated all the men of 
our company who were not on duty. 

As I looked at the bodies of the Germans, 
who had been killed in the attack, I remarkedl 
that they were all clean shaven. Their equip- 
ment and uniforms were good and in first clasa 
condition. Large quantities of small arm am-^ 
munition done up in cloth bandoliers were 
nearby and large numbers of Mauser rifles; 
lay here and there on the ground with the 
jetsam of the battlefield. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

"Uncle, what are you going to do with that 
gun?" 

I turned around to discover my little niece, 
who had noiselessly entered my den just as I 
had removed from the wall a Mauser rifle, a 
souvenir of former campaigns in South Africa. 
My reply to her was in these few words: "I 
am going to 'Hunt the Hun,' for England has 
declared war against Germany." 

As I replaced the rifle on the wall, memories 
of my previous campaigns arose before me and 
the chance of going on active service appealed 
to me strongly. 

When war broke out between England and 
Germany, I was living in Toronto, Canada, 
and was at that time an officer in an irregular 
corps known by the name of the Legion of 

72 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

Frontiersmen. The men composing the 
corps were chiefly veterans of other wars and 
ex-soldiers. All were of the true fighting 
stock and each was imbued with the sole idea 
of doing his bit for king and country. 

When I reached our district headquarters 
that same evening, I met a determined lot of 
Britishers all eager to answer the call that we 
knew would come from the Motherland. We 
held a meeting to discuss ways and means and 
how we could best assist the mother country. 
We decided that we should cable over at once 
to our commanding officer, Col. DriscoU, in 
London, England. Col. Driscoll was the or- 
ganiser and commanding officer of the Driscoll 
Scouts in the Boer War. He had organised 
some 80,000 frontiersmen all over the British 
Empire. In response to our cable, we had a 
reply from him in which he informed us that 
we would have to go as infantry. The fron- 
tiersmen were trained as cavalry, so we were 
a rather disappointed lot that we could not go 
as mounted troops. 

73 



HUNTING THE HUN 

We therefore had to break away from the 
old organisation. I offered myself and my 
men to Major General Sir Sam Hughes, who 
advised us to join the Canadian Militia. This 
we did, and later on I received my commis- 
sion and at once began to drill and train the 
men as infantry. This was not a difficult task, 
as nearly all of them had previous experience. 

Eventually we were warned for overseas, 
but to my great disappointment, I was held 
back to do further recruiting two days before 
sailing. I at once began to recruit all over 
again, and my new battalion furnished me with 
a few amusing little incidents. 

The men of this new battalion were a splen- 
did lot taken from all walks of life, but each 
full of the one idea — doing his bit for King 
and Country. With such a gathering of men, 
you will always find some very keen wits. 

I had occasion to remember one young fel- 
low in particular named Duffy. He was a 
very green recruit, and while on guard duty 
for the first time, I happened to be passing his 

74 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

post. He stopped me and said, "Are you one 
of those fellows I have to salute?" To this 
question I replied "Yes." Then he wanted 
to know why he had to salute me ! 

I gave him the desired information and 
passed on. I could see that he was going to be 
an amusing character, and I had not long to 
wait before I found this to be true. He was 
paraded before me one morning by the ser- 
geant. When I asked Duffy to state his busi- 
ness, he told me that he wanted to give in his 
resignation, as he had changed his mind about 
soldiering and he thought it only fair to give 
us a week's notice in order that we could get 
a man for his place. He was very much sur- 
prised to learn that he could not resign unless 
the medical officer would certify him as being 
unfit. After this I noticed he was very often 
on the sick list. 

One morning just as we were about to com- 
mence a long hike, he was again paraded to me 
by an N.C.O. I asked him what he wanted 
this time, and he replied with a very pitiable 

75 



HUNTING THE HUN 

expression on his face: "Sir, I want you to put 
me on fatigue work, I don't care how hard it 
is." I asked him why he wanted to do this 
fatigue work, as Tommy generally does not 
like this, and he replied, "Sir, I had a dream 
last night that if I went up a certain hill, which 
we had to climb on this march, I would drop 
dead." 

My reply to Duffy was, "Well, we'll take 
a chance on it." So Duffy had to go on the 
route march. 

The same evening there was a baseball match 
on the camp grounds. To my amazement I 
saw Duffy playing with the team. He was 
running and shouting as if his very life de- 
pended upon the outcome. When I had an 
opportunity to speak to him, I said, "Well, 
Duffy, how about that dream? I thought you 
would be a dead man by now, but I see that 
you are very much alive." He replied, "Yes, 
sir, I came out better than I expected." How- 
ever, Duffy has climbed over more obstacles 

76 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

than a hill since then, and is now the proud pos- 
sessor of a D.C.M. 

A short time afterwards I went to Ottawa 
and had an interview with the ex-Minister of 
Militia, Major-General Sir Sam Hughes, with 
whom I had served in the same brigade in the 
South African War. I asked him to allow 
me to proceed overseas with a view of trans- 
ferring to the Imperial Army. It was char- 
acteristic of the Minister to ask me when I 
wanted to go, and I answered him, "As soon 
as possible, sir." He then said, "Are you 
ready to leave to-P" .Jight?" I told him 

that I could not leave to-morrow night, but 
could leave in one week's time. I received the 
necessary documents, and a week from that 
date sailed from Montreal on the S.S. Meta- 
gama. There were 81 officers and 3,000 rank 
and file on board. The voyage was enlivened 
by the music of the battalion bands. 

The trip across was also made interesting 
by boat and other drills. After our first boat 
drill, as I was an unattached officer, I was 

77 



HUNTING THE HUN 

shown the place on the deck where, in the event 
of our being torpedoed, I was to take up my 
position. As we neared the danger zone, 
everyone was keenly on the lookout for the 
terror of the seas — the submarine. 

It was with a great sigh of relief that we 
perceived our escorts, two small torpedo de- 
stroyers, steaming in our direction. They were 
soon circling around us, and from that time 
onward everyone on board carried life belts 
around with them, ready to put on at a mo- 
ment's notice. It was not long before we 
sighted land, and later on we docked at Ply- 
mouth. The same evening I was in London, 
and was an eyewitness that night of a Zeppelin 
raid. 

Few people on this side of the Atlantic real- 
ise the nature of a Zeppelin raid. 

I can scarcely describe the horror I felt as 
the bombs began to descend on their errand of 
destruction and murder. The searchlights 
began to hunt the air for signs of the airships, 
and soon we heard the sharp reports of our 

78 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

anti-aircraft guns along the Thames and also 
the big guns at London Bridge. 

The roar of the guns was terrible, but no- 
where did I see any fear shown by the popu- 
lace. Children cried out, but no one could 
blame them for that. The streets were 
weirdly dark, and with the shaded street lamps 
and the shrill whistle of the taxis everything 
seemed to be mysterious. 

We could not see the airships. They were 
so high up in the air that we could not even 
see a speck in the sky. 

All at once the guns ceased to roar, and then 
the air raid was over. Casualties were few. 
In one house, where a number of poor people 
had taken shelter, the roof fell in and the 
building caught fire. Amongst the killed was 
a young clergyman who had been preaching 
to the people at this critical moment. At this 
house, the people had taken shelter in the base- 
ment, which they thought was safer than their 
own homes. 

I was very much impressed with an old lady 
79 



HUNTING THE HUN 

who kept a fish and chip shop. Her establish- 
ment had been partially destroyed. One-half 
of the window had been blown out and on the 
other half of the window was displayed a sign 
which read "Damn the Zeppelins. To Hell 
with the Kaiser. Fish and Chips as Usual." 
This shows the spirit of the women of Britain. 
You can't beat morale like that. 

In this manner the Huns wage war, trying 
to weaken the morale of the people. If they 
would consider for one moment the spirit of 
a nation like England, who gave the dead crew 
of one of these destroyed Zeppelins a military 
funeral, they would realise that a nation which 
treats a dead enemy like this has a morale that 
can never be broken. Incidents like the fore- 
going make the people more determined than 
ever to push the war to a victorious and suc- 
cessful conclusion. 

The morning after my arrival I called at 
the Canadian War Office — the Cecil Cham- 
bers, the Strand, London. I had a letter of 
introduction to Major General J. Carson, who 

80 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

was then the official representative of the Ca- 
nadian War Office in England. I was there 
informed by Staff Captain Oulster that the 
General was in France, and that he, the Cap- 
tain, could not tell me when he would get back. 
I therefore seized the opportunity to go to my 
home town in West Cumberland, being fur- 
nished with the necessary railway warrant. 
This I appreciated and needless to say I was 
very pleased to visit the town of my birth, al- 
though it was many years since I had left it. 
I still had friends there whom I was as glad 
to see as they were to see me. Whilst there, 
I had related to me the following incident: 

On the west coast of Cimiberland there is a 
small seaport town named Harrington, which 
is about four miles from where I was born. In 
this little town there are a number of blast fur- 
naces, and adjacent to the furnaces there are 
some by-product works. The product made 
here is used, I suppose, in the making of mu- 
nitions. 

These by-product works had been erected 
81 



HUNTING THE HUN 

several years ago by German workmen, all the 
foremen and managers being also German. 
After the work was completed many of these 
Germans remained in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood. Nobody at that time thought any- 
thing about it, but shortly after the war there 
was a rude awakening one morning. For this 
little town was shelled by a submarine that had 
penetrated up the Solway Firth with the ob- 
ject of destroying the by-product works. 
However the attack was unsuccessful. 

It was discovered later on that the wife of 
one of our leading citizens, who was herself 
a German, had boasted to her maid about the 
cleverness of the Germans, who remembered 
the locality and returned to destroy these 
works. It was due to the good common sense 
displayed by this Cumberland girl, who re- 
ported the boastful German lady to the author- 
ities, that she was interned. This set the au- 
thorities moving, and they discovered that all 
along the coast for many miles prominent 
houses had been erected within recent years. 

82 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

All of them were occupied and owned by Ger- 
mans. It was a very simple matter for any 
one in these houses to signal out to sea. How- 
ever, I am pleased to say short work was made 
of any German who was living in these houses. 
Later on I was pleased to meet two fellow 
townsmen of mine, both of whom had won the 
V.C. whilst serving with the border regiment 
in France. Another friend of mine that I met 
in civilian clothes, who, I thought, should be 
with the colours, was a big strong looking 
young man. When I rather angrily asked 
why he was not serving, he fumbled at his 
throat and tried to speak, his face flushing at 
the same time. He then drew out of his 
pocket a small slate and with a slate pencil 
wrote on it these words, "I can't speak, Jim, 
the Hun gas has destroyed my throat and 
tongue." 

' He was in the first gas attack and got badly 
gassed, with the above result. I don't know 
how to describe my feelings, but I felt proud 
to shake his hand and the water was near to 

83 



HUNTING THE HUN 

my eyes when I did so. Now each invahded 
soldier is given a numbered button to show that 
he has been on active service at the front, so 
that mistakes like mine no longer occur. 

I also met a young officer who had been in- 
valided from Gallipoli with wounds, two of 
which were rather peculiar. One bullet had 
entered behind his ear and traversed around 
his cheek, coming out just between the eye and 
the bridge of the nose. The other one had 
taken the centre of the forehead for a path. To 
use his phrase, the Turks had put a permanent 
parting in his hair. 

After spending a few days at my home town, 
I journeyed back to London but was informed^ 
again by Staff Captain Oulster that Major 
General J. Carson was still in France. This 
was rather awkward for me, so I asked Cap- 
tain Oulster if he could give me the necessary 
letters of introduction to take over to the Brit- 
ish War Office. Captain Oulster furnished 
me with the necessary documents, which I took 
over. 

84 



THE CALL OF THE MOTHERLAND 

A few days later I went before the medical 
officer and passed my medical examination with 
flying colours. Finally I was given a com- 
mission in the 12th Royal Warwicks, but before 
the commission had been made out friends of 
mine interested themselves in my behalf and 
I got over to France as an unattached officer. 



CHAPTER IV 

WE MOVE FORWARD 

On the night of the 9th our Company Com- 
mander received orders to establish a strong 
post, which was to consist of one company. 
After the company had been inspected we 
moved out of our trench in sections about 100 
yards' distance having the usual connecting 
files. 

It was raining very hard, but this was noth- 
ing new. We had to make our way over 
ground that was literally a sea of mud and 
honeycombed with shell holes and mine craters. 
One of my men slipped off the lip of a mine 
crater and rolled down almost up to the neck 
in mud and water. He was a Bachelor of 
Science and used to have various arguments 
with one of the boys who hastened to his rescue. 
This argument had evidently consisted of the 

86 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

rescuer's knowledge of physiology and phre- 
nology. Evidently the man in the crater had 
told in a previous argument on these subjects 
that the rescuer's life was half lost because he 
did not know anything on these subjects. I 
was very much surprised to hear the man de- 
tailed for rescue shouting down the crater and 
asking our Professor of Science if he knew any- 
thing about "Swimology" and the answer be- 
ing "No," the rescuer shouted down, "Then, by 
jabers, the whole of your life is lost." 

After getting our professor out, we moved 
forward until we got our position, 'way out in 
No Man's Land, where the men were allotted 
their tasks. They at once commenced to dig 
by connecting up the shell holes, thus making 
a fair trench without being exposed to the 
enemy fire. During the time we were digging 
the Huns were sending up their white flares, 
but as they were some distance away our party 
was not conspicuous. Although the Huns did 
not know where we were, they had the unpleas- 
ant habit of firing shells in most out of the way 

87 



HUNTING THE HUN 

places. So the men never relaxed their ef- 
forts, but kept digging away for dear life, as 
they did not know how soon there might be a 
counter attack. Eventually we got our work 
completed. We then posted sentries and sent 
out a small patrol. The object of our strong 
post was to hold the enemy in check, and thus 
give sufficient time for the troops in rear to 
resist any counter attack that might be made 
by the Huns. During the night everything 
passed off quietly and no counter attack was 
attempted. The Germans had evidently had 
all the fight taken out of them on that event- 
ful day. 

At daybreak I served out the usual allow- 
ance of rum to each man. As every man was 
wet and numb with the cold, the issue of this 
allowance was very much appreciated. I 
would like to see the people that advocate do- 
ing away with the rum issue take a turn in the 
trenches during the cold and rainy season. I 
think that they would come away perfectly 
satisfied in their minds that the rum ration un- 

88 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

der these circumstances is essential for the wel- 
fare of the men. It is so easy for people at 
home who have every luxury and comfort to 
sit down and criticise this issue. People who 
have never had any hardships to endure like 
those the soldiers in the trenches have will tell 
you that tea or coffee will do equally as well, 
but from long experience we in the army know 
different. I am a temperate man myself but 
I found benefit from this small drop of rum. 
Now that I am not in the trenches I don't need 
it and do not take it. The same applies to the 
majority of our soldiers. The army does not 
encourage the men to drink, as the drunkard 
is given very drastic treatment. We have no 
use for him. 

On the morning of the 12th of April as I 
looked over the recently captured battle 
ground, I noticed that the railway construction 
troops had completed building a narrow gauge 
railway, which ran from our forward base of 
supplies at La Targette as far as Thelus, a very 
short distance from where I stood. Little 

89 



HUNTING THE HUN 

gasolene engines were busy hauling up ammu- 
nition, which they distributed to the various 
ammunition . dumps that were located at con- 
siderable intervals alongside the track. At 
one time we had large ammunition dumps ; but 
we have learned from experience that it is bet- 
ter to have a series of small dumps well sepa- 
rated, so that if a shell from the enemy explodes 
on the dump, as it sometimes happens, our loss 
is not so great. The shells are carefully laid 
on a wooden flooring in Httle groups. Be- 
tween each group is a layer of sand bag parti- 
tions. From these points the shells are car- 
ried forward to the diiFerent batteries on the 
backs of mules. 

The labour and pioneer battalions as- 
sisted by some of the infantry were filling in 
the shell holes and clearing the debris to make 
new roads for the mule trains and transports 
that were to bring up the supplies. Along the 
Lens-Arras road men were clearing away 
fallen trees that had been struck by the shells 
and lay across the road. Owing to the high 

90 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

elevation of the ground our men could work 
both night and day without being observed. 

The evening of the 12th we received orders 
to move forward and dig a trench at a given 
map location some 1500 yards from where we 
were. I was ordered to have my platoon dig in 
at a certain distance in front of a high railway 
embankment. I carefully took my compass 
bearing and, after each platoon had been care- 
fully inspected by the platoon commanders, we 
moved off in single file, marching at ease. We 
crossed the Lens- Arras road, until we arrived 
and halted a short distance in front of what 
was left of the little village of Thelus. 

This little village was now a mass of ruins. 
Our whole brigade assembled there. At nine 
o'clock platoons started to move off consecu- 
tively, and when our turn arrived we pro- 
ceeded towards the crest of the Ridge and 
passed over some of the late German trenches. 
As we descended beneath the crest I noticed 
near me a thick concrete German heavy gun 
emplacement. This gun and several others on 

91 



HUNTING THE HUN 

the same alignment had been captured by us 
and we were now using them against the enemy. 
Our progress was extremely slow owing to the 
fact that on the steep slope of the ridge was a 
dense growth of brushwood and shell shat- 
tered trees. It would have been much easier 
for us to move along the Lens-Arras road 
which for a distance ran almost parallel to the 
route we were taking, but as this was under 
constant shell fire from the Huns it was con- 
sidered advisable to take a more difficult but 
safer way. 

When we reached the bottom of the slope we 
came to a series of German trenches recently 
evacuated by them. On my right we passed 
close to what I took to be the ruins of a wind- 
mill. Then we came to a high railroad em- 
bankment and, passing under a bridge, found 
ourselves in open country. 

The Germans during this period were send- 
ing up their star shells in abundance, the out- 
line of the trenches was plainly to be seen, 
searchlights were busy searching the sky for 

92 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

our aeroplanes, which they thought might be 
passing over the lines in a bombing raid. 

Word was now passed along to me that our 
line was broken. I therefore had to halt to 
allow those in the rear to catch up. I had set 
my luminous prismatic compass and began to 
march on my bearing which I eventually 
reached. Each man was allotted his task, 
which consisted of digging an amount of trench 
equal to the length of his outstretched arms. 

Owing to the difficult nature of the ground 
we had to march over, we lost a great deal of 
time. As it was within one hour of daylight, 
we had no time to lose to get under the neces- 
sary cover for protection from the fire of the 
enemy. Some of the boys had brought with 
them German shovels which they had obtained 
in the Berliner House dugout. This was an 
improvement on the entrenching tool that 
every man is supplied with. The latter, being 
very much smaller, is not as effective as a 
shovel but is much easier to carry. It did not 
require much persuasion on my part to im- 

93 



HUNTING THE HUN 

press on the minds of the boys the urgency of 
digging in and getting under cover before day- 
light. 

In my platoon I had a big husky French- 
Canadian who was an excellent soldier. Since 
officers do not carry entrenching tools I asked 
him to dig a place for me alongside of him. 
The infantry Tommy as a rule likes to take 
his time providing he is safe, whilst on a work- 
ing party, from the enemy's fire, but when he 
realises the seriousness of the situation he can 
develop a remarkable amount of speed and en- 
ergy. My boys did not lack pep, speed or 
energy and they began to work with grim de- 
termination. I handed over my platoon to the 
platoon sergeant for a few minutes to see if 
the platoons on my right and left flanks were 
all right, so that we would be able to connect 
up our trenches during the day when we would 
be under cover. 

When I got back to my platoon I keenly 
supervised the boys at their work, paying par- 
ticular attention to the private who was dig- 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

ging a place for himself and me. During this 
time I had two men wounded by shrapnel. 
After having their wounds attended to they 
were carried out on a stretcher to the regimen- 
tal aid post. Although their wounds must 
have been painful they were carried out smil- 
ing and in good spirits. We were now under 
cover, so I issued the boys their tot of rum 
and posted my sentries who, through their 
periscopes, were to watch for any movement 
on the part of the enemy. 

About 8.00 A. M. we heard the sharp re- 
port of our anti-aircraft guns and observed 
the white puffs of smoke that the shell emitted 
as it burst around the German aeroplanes high 
up in the sky. All at once we noticed aero- 
planes manoeuvring in the air and observed a 
quick diving motion from one of them which 
had opened fire on the one underneath, as the 
latter plane fell to the ground in a mass of 
flames. Afterwards the victor flew back over 
our lines, so we knew that another Hun avia- 

95 



HUNTING THE HUN 

tor had fallen a victim to one of our R.F.C. 
men. 

At midnight our field guns were brought 
forward and began to fire from behind the rail- 
way embankment at the Hun trenches. It 
was not long before the Huns started to re- 
taliate with gas shells. The slight wind that 
was blowing in our direction soon brought the 
vile fumes towards us. Without a moment's 
delay every one put on his gas hehnet or small 
box respirator. We were then safe from the 
deadly gas fumes, but an occasional German 
shrapnel shell would burst over our heads. 
The Huns' artillery fire was principally di- 
rected against our artillery, but they could not 
locate them. 

We were now expecting the Germans to 
make an attack and were all in readiness to re- 
ceive them. About 5.30 A. M., after being 
under the gas shell bombardment for about 
five hours, the air gradually got clearer and 
each platoon officer cautiously removed his gas 
mask to test the air. After finding it safe, 

96 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

they gave orders to the men to take their gas 
masks off. 

On April 14th the Huns had found out by 
their aerial service the position of our trenches, 
so in the afternoon they started to bracket fire 
our trench. That is to say, as they did not 
know the exact range, they observed by aero- 
planes or observation balloons the effect of 
shells which their artillery had dropped first in 
front of our trench and then in the rear. 
Gradually working inwards, they located the 
trench. It certainly was an unpleasant feel- 
ing as these searching shells commenced to 
come nearer and nearer. 

A private who had been sent up with a ra- 
tion party the previous night to take the place 
of a man who had been wounded, was in the 
line for the first time. He got very excited 
when the Huns started to bracket fire our 
trench and kept running up and down from 
one end of the trench to the other until he was 
tired out. Finally he decided he would not 
run any more and sat down to smoke a pipe. 

97 



HUNTING THE HUN 

By this time the Germans had succeeded in 
getting the correct range of our trench. They 
sent over a shell which blew the poor fellow 
to pieces. 

Our S.O.S. signal had been sent back and 
the forward observation officer was now 
alive to the situation. It was not long before 
we heard the sweet music in our ears of the 
swish, swish of our artillery as the shells passed 
over our heads on their errand to the German 
batteries, which they soon located and silenced. 

The night of the 14th we were relieved and 
retired to a series of dugouts situated just be- 
neath the railway track. These dugouts had 
formerly been occupied by the Huns when 
they had held the ridge. The idea was that 
if the Germans should counterattack we 
would immediately get over the top of the rail- 
way embankment and make it our line of re- 
sistance. 

The dugout occupied by our company offi- 
cers had evidently been a German battalion 
headquarters, as it was fitted up with comfort- 

98 



WE MOVE FORWARD 

able bunks and had in the rear a beautiful 
kitchen garden in which all kinds of vege- 
tables were growing at one time. It was quite 
evident the Germans had been living very 
luxuriously. About 6:30 the next evening, 
while we officers were having our supper, a 
shell landed suddenly on the top of the railway 
embankment. We thought that the Germans 
intended shelling this point. 

As we hastily rushed through the doorway 
into the open, each officer blowing his whistle 
for the men to come out of the various dug- 
outs along the railway embankment, I noticed 
that a working party from the 22nd French 
Canadian Battalion instead of going under the 
bridge had passed over the embankment. The 
Germans had directed their fire upon this 
party, inflicting several casualties. They then 
started to shell along the embankment, killing 
two brigade machine gun company men in the 
next dugout to ours. 

Later on I saw all my men located in the va- 
rious shell holes. I then took up my position 

99 



HUNTING THE HUN 

alongside of my batman and stretcher bearer, 
remaining with them until 3.00 in the morn- 
ing. We were now so used to the periodical 
shelling that we did not pay any attention to 
it. We all felt like sleeping although it was 
exceedingly cold and rainy. Three of us 
huddled close to one another for warmth, the 
stretcher bearer lying next to me. He proved 
a most uncomfortable companion as he was 
continually trying to rub his back against the 
stretcher. I had my suspicions that I would 
soon be hunting something other than Huns. 



CHAPTER V 

HUNTING THE HUN 

Fob, three weeks my battalion practiced go- 
ing over the tapes for an attack on the Cite 
St. Laurent, a suburb of Lens. The tapes 
were laid on the ground to represent the 
trenches held by the Germans. Various col- 
oured flags were placed at the corners of the 
assumed streets and these were named as we 
would find the streets when we made our at- 
tack. The church of the town was repre- 
sented by a cross made of tape. Our battalion 
frontage was some 300 yards, and at some 
places we were not more than the same dis- 
tance away from the Hun trench. 

In order to reach our front line trenches we 
had to go through an ingoing communication 
trench which ran partly on the outskirts of the 
Cite St. Pierre and through the centre of the 

101 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Cite St. Edouard. We had already made a 
tour in the sector of the line from which we 
were to go "over the top." As a result of con- 
stant artillery activities on hoth sides we had 
many casualties. A great number of guns 
were in the Cite St. Pierre and as far up as the 
Cite St. Edouard. Both forces strafed in- 
cessantly. 

On the morn of the 14th of August we were 
told that the attack was to take place on the 
morn of the 15th. "Zero Hour" was set for 
4.20 A.M. Everyone got busy getting things 
ready to move. All surplus kits were re- 
turned to the quartermaster's stores. In the 
afternoon church service was held and an ex- 
cellent sermon was preached by our battalion 
padre. Two hymns were sung during the 
service, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and 
*'Nearer, My God, to Thee." Everyone's tak- 
ing communion closed the service. 

'No. 1 sections of all platoons participating 
in the attack were supplied with special wire 
cutters, which were an attachment to the 

102 



HUNTING THE HUN 

rifles. That evening about seven o'clock all 
companies fell in on their respective parade 
grounds, where a thorough inspection was 
made by the oflicers. One platoon per com- 
pany remained out of the line as usual. Each 
company commander took charge of his re- 
spective company, the seconds in command re- 
maining out. 

The Colonel gave us a little talk and said 
that we would be going into the attack and that 
our work would partly consist of village fight- 
ing. Everyone was expected to live up to 
the good reputation our battalion had made. 
He then shook hands with each officer, all offi- 
cers in turn shaking hands with each other. 
One of my friends, when I shook hands with 
him, told me he was going in for the last time. 
He really did not expect to come out alive. 
I rather pooh-poohed the matter at the time 
and it made me feel badly for him and rather 
nervous. Unfortunately his presentiment 
came true. 

As the Huns were constantly shelling our 
103 



HUNTING THE HUN 

back area, we marched off the parade ground 
in sections at distances of 100 yards. When 
we arrived at the Cite St. Pierre, which had 
previously been captured by us, and as we 
passed through this Cite, where our Brigade 
Headquarters were established in what had 
been a former deep German dugout, we were 
told by one of the officers of Brigade Head- 
quarters that the "Zero Hour" would be 4.20 
A. M. and that we were to go "over the top" 
at that time. 

As we followed the ingoing communicating 
trench, part of which ran through the middle 
of the street, there were houses on both sides. 
These the German artillery was constantly 
playing on, so bricks and mortar flew in all di- 
rections. The few houses that had been left 
standing were demolished as if they had been 
made of cardboard. You can well imagine 
that when a shell hit anywhere near a house it 
made things very unpleasant for those of us 
passing through these trenches. 

The platoon officer, who had preceded me, 
104 



HUNTING THE HUN 

had evidently got out of the communicating 
trench to see how his men were coming up 
from the rear. When I passed him he was 
lying on the sidewalk. I did not think at that 
time he was dangerously wounded as he 
waved his hand to me. I could not stop 
to give him any attention for, although he was 
my best friend, my duty was imperative and 
I had to lead my men onwards. I therefore 
shouted for the stretcher bearer from his 
platoon and gave the necessary instructions for 
his care. I regretted very much to hear that 
he passed away in a few hours after receiving 
his wound. 

By the time we reached the firing line, which 
was directly in front of the Cite St. Edouard 
(also a suburb of Lens), I had eight casual- 
ties. Three men had been killed, and five 
wounded. The wounded had been given every 
attention and sent back to the rear. The lead- 
ing platoon was now in charge of the platoon 
sergeant, a very capable man who had taken 
charge of the platoon whilst in practice for this 

105 



HUNTING THE HUN 

attack. All the other N.C.O.'s had also been 
trained to do this, so that in case any platoon 
officer became a casualty they would be able 
to carry on. 

As we arrived at the firing line the holding 
troops were "standing to" on the fire step. 
We could thus pass along in their rear. 
Guides were assigned to each platoon to show 
us the openings that had been made in our 
barbed wire so that we could then get into No 
Man's Land without being obliged to cut the 
wire. During this time the Huns were inces- 
santly sending up their star shells and other 
coloured rockets. 

I gave the necessary instructions to N.C.O.'s 
in charge of sections, and then we crawled out 
through the barbed wire and got into shell 
holes. The Huns at this time were firing 
"whizz bangs" and Minnenwerfers at our front 
line, these being short ranged shells. As 
the German star shells illuminated the ground, 
I noticed that the barbed wire had not been 
altogether destroyed by our artillery. This 

106 



HUNTIN'G THE HUN 

was probably due to the fact of the close prox- 
imity of the two opposing lines, which pre- 
vented our artillery from concentrating its fire 
as they would have done if we had been further 
apart. It was for this reason that the No. 1 
section of each platoon had been supplied with 
special rifle wire cutters. 

At 3.45 A.M. I served the rum to the boys 
before "going over." It was certainly a very 
dangerous job, as my batman and I had to 
crawl from one shell hole to another to give 
each man his allowance. When a star shell 
would go up I would be exposed but would 
try to screen myself flat to the ground. I 
never wanted to appear so small in my life and 
I thought all the time that I must have been 
as huge as an elephant. I did not want to be 
"napooed" whilst acting as rum server, and if 
I had to "go west" I wanted to go fighting at 
the head of my men. 

However, I served all out in safety and then 
crawled back to my shell hole. I looked at my 
watch and saw that it was exactly 4.00 A.M. 

107 



HUNTING THE HUN 

The artillery on both sides was now less ac- 
tive. Dawn was just breaking; a slight mist 
appeared. The men had their bayonets fixed 
and were all readj'' and anxious for the signal 
to "go over." At 4.19 A.M. a heavy barrage 
was laid on our front line and rear trenches. 
We knew then that the Huns had anticipated 
our attack, and had by some means found out 
our "Zero Hour." We were not able to move 
forward until the "Zero Hour." 

Exactly at 4.20 our artillery opened up, and 
as the shells passed over our heads to the Ger- 
man front line they gave us a great deal of sat- 
isfaction. At the same time mines that were 
previously laid beneath the German trenches 
were exploded and great big cones of flames 
shot up into the air. These pillars of fire ap- 
peared to be about twenty feet at the base and 
forty feet high. I would think in my estima- 
tion there would be about one hundred of these 
pillars of flame all along the German front 
support lines. We were now "over the top" 
and were advancing in two waves in extended 

108 



HUNTING THE HUN 

order. The third wave was still in the front 
line trench and would remain there until our 
barrage lifted, when we would advance to our 
first objective. Then the third wave would 
come out. 

When within 50 yards of our barrage I sig- 
nalled to the men to take all possible cover, 
which they quickly did by getting into the shell 
holes. As I looked to my right I saw Lieu- 
tenant L at the head of what was left of 

his platoon. He was leading them into their 
position. Blood was flowing from his face and 
running down all over his tunic, but he was 
bravely carrying on. Just as he was about to 
slide into a shell hole with another man, who 
I presume was his batman, a shell landed close 
to them. As the dust and smoke cleared away 
I noticed on the ground their two dead bod- 
ies. Each one had answered his country's 
call. My friend's presentiment had come true ! 

Matters were now very exciting. The 
bursting of shrapnel and the crumps of large 
shells were exploding around us. Every man 

109 



HUNTING THE HUN 

knew that his life depended upon his keeping 
cool. We were impatiently waiting for the 
barrage to lift, as we were expecting to en- 
counter the Germans out in the open as soon 
as that happened. 

The German is a good fighter as long as he 
can rub shoulders with his comrades. But 
when he gets to close quarters and is opposed 
to our men with the bayonet he seems to wilt. 
Our boys have no difficulty in putting him out 
of business then. I had a Russian in my 
platoon whose boast was that he personally ac- 
counted for one dozen Germans and he had 
notched his rifle, much against orders, twelve 
times. His ambition was to get another dozen 
in this fight. He was in the next shell hole to 
mine and was eagerly watching for me to give 
the signal to advance. When I did give it, he 
went along, and I had little doubt, from the 
look on his face, that he would get another 
dozen. 

I had lost quite a number of men, my platoon 
was very much diminished, and the platoon 

110 



HUNTING THE HUN 

sergeant had been killed. As our barrage 
lifted we advanced and made a dash into the 
German front line trench, to find nothing 
there except the mangled German bodies. We 
ran along the trenches, but could not find any- 
thing. By this time our moppers-up were in 
the trenches, so we left them to look after the 
dugouts and immediately clambered out and 
made for the German second line. 

On the second line we encountered a num- 
ber of Saxons. They all appeared to be ter- 
rified and put up a very feeble resistance. I 
afterwards learned through a prisoner that 
these Saxons were sent out in front to resist 
our advance, and that the Prussian Guards had 
threatened to shoot them from the rear if they 
showed any hesitation in going forward. They 
were made to act as a buffer between us and 
the Guards. They seemed to be quite young 
and boyish looking, and did not appear to have 
any heart for the fight. 

During this time we were very much an- 
noyed by the Hun aeroplanes which were drop- 
Ill 



HUNTING THE HUN 

ping bombs and firing their machine guns upon 
us from above. I was glad to see two German 
aeroplanes brought down, for our aviators 
were getting busy and there were numerous 
battles in the air. It was not long until our 
boys had the air supremacy, and we were left 
in peace from that quarter. 

As we advanced with our barrage, a Ger- 
man barrage of machine gun bullets played 
around us as well as their shells. We got into 
Cite St. Laurent and followed a German 
trench for some distance, then out again until 
we reached what I took to be the church, now 
in ruins. 

We now got into a former German com- 
munication trench, called "commotion trench" 
for obvious reasons. There was certainly some 
commotion here. We had to fight our way up 
this trench, dodging German stick bombs and 
rifle grenades, walking over dead German bod- 
ies, until we reached our objective, a trench 
called Nun's Alley. At a certain point I es- 
tablished my Lewis gun section so that they 

112 



HUNTING THE HUN 

could fire up a certain sector of a trench run- 
ning at right angles to Nun's Alley, which was 
originally part of the Hun's strong line of re- 
sistance. 

The battalion was so much reduced in 
strength that what was left of the whole bat- 
talion was required to hold the front line. 

At noon the Germans retreated, but all day 
long their artillery as well as our own was busy. 
A great deal of counter battery work was go- 
ing on. Shells were likewise being dropped 
along the sector of the German trenches we 
had captured from them. At dusk as we were 
"standing to" the Germans sent up a great 
number of coloured rockets, and suddenly our 
outpost men who had been stationed in shell 
holes came in with the news that the Prussian 
Guards were advancing in close formation on a 
counterattack against us. Our S.O.S. was 
sent up and quickly answered by our artillery. 
Just before their barrage opened up, we quick- 
ly jumped out of Nun's Alley trench and got 
into shell holes. 

113 



HUNTING THE HUN 

With the assistance from our artillery, and 
every machine gun and rifle playing upon the 
advancing hordes of Prussians in close forma- 
tion, we mowed them down ruthlessly. What 
was left of them turned and fled. 

Until the night of the 18th we held the line, 
and during this time we had four counterat- 
tacks in one day. Our ration parties could 
not be sent out, nor could we get our rations for 
two days. Our iron rations were eaten by spe- 
cial permission from the commanding officer, 
and it was only on the night of the relief that 
we were able to obtain more food. 

I noticed the Germans had built some very 
good and deep dugouts in Nun's Alley, but as 
we were liable to counterattack at any time, I 
did not examine them. 

I was glad for the few men I had left of my 
platoon when the relief took place, about 1.30 
the morning of the 19th. They were all keyed 
up to the highest pitch and keeping up on their 
nerves alone. They had had no sleep while 
they were in the attack, so after giving all in- 

114 



HUNTING THE HUN 

formation about the enemy to the platoon com- 
mander of the relief, we got on our way back 
to rest billets. 

We did not delay and were soon marching 
away from the danger zone. The nervous 
strain began to wear off the men, although 
they were dropping from lack of sleep and 
fatigue. First one man and then another 
would drop out. When we were about 800 
yards from our rest billets I heard a loud "hur- 
rah! hurrah!" It came from the officers and 
men whose turn it had been to remain out of 
^he line. They had come to meet us and 
brought along with them the Brigade Bagpip- 
ers, who immediately began to strike up "The 
Campbells Are Coming" and "The Cock of 
the North." It was wonderful, the effect this 
music had on the boys, who immediately began 
to brace up and marched in very briskly. Our 
efforts and success were appreciated, and it 
was not long until we all had a good meal that 
had been specially prepared for us. And 
after eating the same, we were soon in bed. 

115 



HUNTING THE HUN 

In the morning I heard one of the men 
making inquiries about my batman. I had 
missed him early in the fight but had been ex- 
pecting him to turn up at any time. To my 
consternation I was informed by a man from 
another company that he had seen my batman's 
dead body in a shell hole. I regretted this 
news very much, as he had been like a 
friend to me. He had completed two years of 
medicine but like a great many more he had an- 
swered his country's call and gave his life for 
the cause. 

The casualties of our battalion were four of- 
ficers killed and six wounded and 260 men 
killed and wounded. It was a very hard 
fought battle but we gained and held all our 
objectives, inflicting terrible casualties on the 
Huns. 

During the month of May one of our bri- 
gades made an attack on Fresnoy-en-Gohelle. 
It was what we call a little brigade show. 

Fresnoy was three miles from Vimy station. 
At daylight early on May the sixth, the bri- 

116 



HUNTING THE HUN 

gade went "over the top." The German 
barbed wire had all been cut by our artillery, 
so the Germans, anticipating the attack, met 
our brigade with a whole German division. 
This did not stop our brigade from advanc- 
ing and closing with the enemy. In the little 
village of Fresnoy, though greatly outnum- 
bered, they fought with the Huns for a whole 
day and night. 

All the troops on both sides were wearing 
their gas helmets, and it was really a hand-to- 
hand struggle. Each one tried to tear the gas 
helmet from his opponent. A gas helmet 
pulled off a man meant his death, as the fumes 
were very thick. I later on spoke to an of- 
ficer who participated in this fight and he told 
me of some of his experiences. 

His eyesight had been rather bad previ- 
ously. When he started to walk over 'No 
Man's Land, in his haste to put on his small 
box respirator, he lost his glasses and could 
not see very far in front of him. He led his 
men more by sense of direction than by sense of 

117 



HUNTING THE HUN 

eyesight, as he could not see through his gog- 
gles without his glasses. He therefore had to 
go blindly along until he fell down in a shell 
hole, where he remained until the fumes had 
been dispelled. When he tried to crawl out 
of the shell hole German snipers in front of 
him made desperate attempts to pot him. 
However, he was fortunate enough to be al- 
lowed to remain until nearly dark, when he 
was located and brought back to safety. Our 
brigade suffered rather heavily in this attack, 
but we had the pleasure of inflicting a greater 
amount of casualties on the Germans than they 
had on us. 

One of the most sanguinary encounters that 
I was ever in happened during the latter part 
of April. My company was doing duty in 
brigade support line which was a captured 
trench we had taken from the Germans. It 
was now being used by us as an observation 
trench. It ran along the slope of the ridge, 
and from it we could see the smoke coming out 
of the chimneys of the coal mines at Lens, 

118 



HUNTING, THE HUN 

about four and a quarter miles away. A splen- 
did view of the ground occupied by the Hun 
could be had, as his trenches lay in front of 
us. One day about 4.30 P.M. we received in- 
formation that the Germans were assembling 
in a certain sunken road with the view of mak- 
ing a counterattack. Our artillery had been 
given instructions to concentrate their fire at 
5.30 P.M. upon this road. Excitement ran 
high in our trench and we were all anxious to 
be at the Huns again. Everyone that could 
was looking through periscopes and some 
peered over the top of the parapet as we 
eagerly waited for our artillery to commence. 

At 5 :30 P.M., much to our surprise, our ar- 
tillery did not open up. We suspected that 
the Germans had by some means found out 
that we knew they were assembling for this 
counterattack and that they therefore gave up 
the idea. 

That even at dusk we prepared to advance, 
but during our stay in the observation trench 
we had five casualties in our company. We 

119 



HUNTING THE HUN 

were to occupy a lately evacuated German 
trench which was directly in front of our fir- 
ing line. The battalions on our right and left 
flank also had to move up. At 10.00 P.M. 
we left the observation trench and were met 
by guides from the battalion which was then 
holding the sector of the front line trench that 
we had to pass to get to the recently evacuated 
German trench, now to become our front line. 
With my guide I led my platoon in single file 
for a distance of 50 yards past the firing line. 
All at once the Germans commenced to bom- 
bard us with gas shells. We immediately put 
on our gas helmets and advanced through 
these poisonous fumes. When we were with- 
in 200 yards of our objective the Huns put 
up what we call a box barrage. They had evi- 
dently been warned of our advance. 

A box barrage is shell fire directed along the 
rear and both flanks. It hemjned us in, al- 
though the flanking fire did not harm our com- 
pany, as it was too far away from us, still the 
fire from the rear was gradually creeping up 

120 



HUNTING THE HUN 

to us, and it was a very anxious and trying time 
for our nerves as it came gradually towards 
us. I shouted out to form line in extended or- 
der and we made a rush for our objective, 
which we had named "Winnipeg trench." We 
managed to get into it in the nick of time, as 
the creeping barrage was almost on top of us. 

We had lost about sixty men of the com- 
pany during this advance, so we had sent up 
our S.O.S. signals. The artillery answered im- 
mediately by commencing to play a drum fire, 
or intense bombardment, upon the German 
artillery and trenches. It was not long be- 
fore we had silenced their guns, as we must 
have sent over ten shells to the one of the 
Huns'. During this period my stretcher bearer 
had been kept very busy, and I had to send for 
additional stretcher bearers so that I could have 
the casualties attended to. My casualty re- 
port showed eight men killed, two missing, fif- 
teen wounded. 

I left the trenches. One officer and seven 
men were granted ten days' rest, I being the 

123 



HUNTING THE HUN 

lucky officer. We left the trenches at midnight 
and went to Sains-en-Gohelle. I arrived here 
and found busses aU ready to transport the 
men to the Railhead. We were conveyed to 
the Kailhead and then entrained, detraining at 
Boulogne. From there we marched to Amble- 
teuse, a distance of ten kilometres. 

Here were gathered together, I should 
judge, about 10,000 troops — all under can- 
vas. Imperials, Canadians, Australians, New 
Zealanders and Maoris were in the camp. 

There were several Y. M. C. A. marquees 
and during our short and pleasant rest we were 
entertained by some of the most celebrated 
actors and actresses from England who had 
come over to offer their services free. It was 
very much appreciated by us and we thanked 
the Y. M. C. A. for their cordiality in giving us 
such a pleasant time. 

Ten days passed all too quickly and we en- 
trained at Wimereau, a short distance from 
Ambleteuse, amidst the cheers and waving of 
handkerchiefs by the girls of the W. A. A. C. 

124 



HUNTING THE HUN 

(Women's Army Auxiliary Corps). There 
are over ten battalions of these girls in France, 
all doing their bit at the bases. 

We left Wimereau at 1.30 in the afternoon. 
Every car in the train was packed to full ca- 
pacity. Sometimes we were travelling at the 
rate of about thirty miles per hour, then we 
would slow down to five, depending upon the 
grade. 

We arrived at Hasebrouck about 4.30 in the 
afternoon. We heard the reports of explod- 
ing shells and bombs as we approached the sta- 
tion, and as we looked out of the windows of 
the train we could see the French inhabitants 
fleeing out of the city. The Germans were 
shelling and bombing the town. I could see 
fires here and there in the neighbourhood. Our 
train slowly pulled into the station and 
stopped. Every window was occupied by the 
officers and men who were anxiously looking 
out at the fires and the damage that had been 
done by the German shells and bombs. 

125 



HUNTING THE HUN 

A friend of mine whom I had met at the rest 
camp was in the next compartment to mine. 
He remarked to me that he did not mind the 
shelling so much if the civilian population 
were out of danger, and added that in his opin- 
ion he thought that we were quite safe. Sud- 
denly a shell struck a tree not more than thirty- 
yards away from us and a splinter glanced oif 
and struck the railway train. I heard then 
the old familiar cry of "stretcher bearer," 
"stretcher bearer on the double," and an 
R.A.M.C. Sergeant came running over to our 
car. As I jumped out of my compartment, 
I went into the other one. There to my hor- 
ror my friend was lying unconscious. Blood 
was flowing freely from all parts of his body, 
and as I helped to place him on the stretcher 
he passed away to the Great Beyond. In an- 
other car five N.C.O.'s were wounded from 
fragments of the same shell, so I could shake 
hands with myself on being fortunate to escape 
without injury. 



126 



CHAPTER VI 

TRENCH ROUTINE 

The war establishment of an infantry bat- 
talion is about 1,046 men divided into four 
companies. There are four platoons to a com- 
pany, and four sections to a platoon. 

The platoon is the smallest unit in the field. 
It is often said that this is a platoon or junior 
officers' war, and I believe this is quite true. 
I must mention something about the organisa- 
tion of this compact little unit. 

As previously stated, a platoon consists of 
four sections. Taking for example an aver- 
age strength of 49 O.R. (other ranks), a suit- 
able organisation would be as follows: 

Platoon Headquarters: 1 Officer 

1 Platoon Sergeant 
1 Officer's Batman 
1 Stretcher Bearer 
1 Cook 

127 



HUNTING THE HUN 



No. 1 Section 



No. 2 Section 



No. 3 Section 



No. 4 Section 



1 N.C.O. 

9 Riflemen 

2 Snipers 
1 Scout 

1 N.C.O. 

6 Rifle Grenadiers 

3 Carriers 

1 N.C.O. 

2 Scouts 

8 Lewis Gunners 

1 N.C.O. 
10 Bombers 



Sometimes each section may wear a diifer- 
ent coloured cloth armlet, so that you can tell 
at a glance what section a man belongs to. The 
platoon commander has at all times to look out 
for his men's comfort first — ^his own comfort 
and safety being a second consideration. 



EQUIPMENT or AN INFANTRY SOLDIEK WHEN 
GOING "oyer the TOP" 

1 Steel Helmet which seems to him to weigh 
a ton when he is marching out of reach of 

128 



TRENCH. ROUTINE 

shell fire, but when under shell fire, he thinks 
it is as light as a feather and he wishes it were 
much heavier and bigger. 

1 Iron Rations. A small, white bag con- 
taining 3 hardtack biscuits, a tin of bully beef, 
sometimes a tin of mixed tea and sugar. 

1 Small Box Respirator oi gas mask, at the 
alert position. This is lying flat on his chest. 

1 P.H. or Smoke Helmet. This is a spare 
gas helmet, which is out of use, but is perfectly 
effective, and may be used if the small box 
respirator is damaged. 

1 Haversack. This is fastened on the back 
of the man. D-shaped buckles are provided 
on the Webb equipment to allow for this. 

1 Rubber Sheet. Fastened on the outside of 
the haversack. 

220 Rounds of Small Arm Ammunition. 

2 Mills Bombs per man. Ten bombs to 
bombers and rifle grenadiers. The latter 
have grenade cups, and copper rods about 12 
inches long which are screwed into the base of 
the Mills bomb and are fired from a rifle. 

129 



HUNTING THE HUN 

1 Ground Flare and Matches. 

1 First Field Dressing. 

2 Identification Discs. 

1 Mess Tin. 

2 Water Bottles, filled with water. 
1 Jerkin. 

1 Entrenching Tool and Handle. 

1 Wire Cutter. Usually the riflemen have 
wire cutters attached to their rifle. There are 
about seven men supplied with wire cutters in 
a platoon. 

1 Rifle and Bayonet. 

Besides the above, dm-ing the cold and rainy 
weather each man takes a turn to carry the jar 
of rum, extra rations and bombs. Tommy is 
pretty well loaded down by the time he has all 
his equipment on him. Sometimes he may 
have to carry two extra bandoliers of cart- 
ridges. 

There are four battalions to an infantry bri- 
gade and, like the company system, one of 
these four battalions in its turn is out for rest 
and training behind the lines. During this 

130 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

time tlie other battalions are taking their turn 
in the trenches. 

The battalions may be in the trenches for 
ten days. No fixed time is allotted as we have 
found out by experience that the Germans 
somehow or other learn the night and time of 
our relief and they then open up their artillery 
upon us. Consequently when we go into the 
trenches, we never know how long we are go- 
ing to remain there. We might make a tour 
of say ten days, three days in the support line, 
two days in the front, two days in the reserve, 
then back again for another three days in the 
front line. It all depends upon brigade head- 
quarters staif, who order operations for 
relief before the battalion takes over the 
trenches from another unit. The relief takes 
place under cover of darkness. 

The battalion that is relieving the one that 
is in the trenches is met by guides from the 
battalion to be relieved at a rendezvous point. 
There is one guide for each platoon. He con- 
ducts them separately and in single file to the 

131 



HUNTING THE HUN 

part of the line that they have to occupy. 
Platoons are widely separated if going over 
open ground. As the incoming platoons en- 
ter the trench, they line up directly in the rear 
of the men who are to be relieved, who are 
"standing to" on the fire step with all their 
equipment on. On the command "stand 
down" the relief takes the place of the outgo- 
ing party. 

It is usual to have one officer per company 
accompanied by some N.C.O.'s. One day be- 
fore the relief takes place the actual condi- 
tions and situation must be ascertained. If 
the communication trenches are good this is 
often done in daylight. The trench stores are 
taken over by an officer who checks them up, 
but does not sign a receipt until the relief ac- 
tually takes place. 

All information of value such as the name 
of the opposing force, whether they are Prus- 
sians, Saxons or Bavarians, the whereabouts 
of their machine guns and if there was much 
activity shown on the part of the enemy, de- 

132 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

scription of their S.O.S. signal, if known, is 
passed on to the relieving force. 

If the enemy trenches are close to ours we 
may run a little narrow sap extending from 
our fire trench in the direction of the enemy. 
Great pains are taken to conceal this sap. The 
excavated earth is placed in sand bags and car- 
ried some distance away. At the end of this 
sap, which may be 3 x 4 feet, we make a cut- 
ting sufficiently large to accommodate two 
men. As a rule the men in this sap, or listen- 
ing post, as it is commonly called, are con- 
nected with the sentry in the fire trench by a 
long, strong cord. Signals are pre-arranged 
to give silent warning of any movements on 
the part of the enemy. 

The duties of these men are very exacting 
and great caution must be observed. They 
must listen for any underground mining or 
hammering on the faucet of gas drums. Con- 
sequently this is very important work and a 
great deal depends upon the coolness and in- 
telligence of the men in the listening post. As 

133 



HUNTING THE HUN 

the work is very nerve racking, reliefs usually 
take place every hour. A platoon officer may 
accompany such relief. 

The platoon officers on duty have to make 
up several reports such as: weather re- 
port, showing strength and direction of the 
wind, and situation report, stating particu- 
lars of what may have been seen of the enemy, 
the number of shells fired in our direction, also 
any results noted from the firing of the Ger- 
man rocket signals. There is also a casualty 
report showing the number of casualties dur- 
ing the day. Another report is made out for 
the shortage of equipment, ammunition, 
bombs, etc. 

TRENCH OEDERS 

1. Duties — (a) One officer per company 
and one N.C.O. per platoon will always be on 
duty. 

(b) By night the officer and N.C.O. on duty 
will frequently patrol the trench line, to see 
that the sentries are alert and to inquire 

134 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

whether they have any information to report 
about the enemy. 

(c) The N.C.O. coming on duty will go 
around and post new sentries with the N.C.O. 
coming off duty. 

(d) The length of each tour of duty will 
depend on the number of officers and N.C.O.'s 
available in the company. Normally, each 
tour should be, by night 2 hours, by day 4 
hours, day commencing at morning "stand to" 
and night commencing at evening "stand 
to." In inclement weather it may be advis- 
able to reduce the tour to 1 hour. 

(e) N.C.O.'s after posting sentries will re- 
port "All correct" or otherwise to the officer 
on duty. 

(f) The officer on duty will be responsible 
for sending in the reports required by battal- 
ion headquarters, unless there is anything un- 
usual to report, when this duty will be per- 
formed by the company commander. 

(g) Men will be warned for duty by the 

135 



HUNTING THE HUN 

platoon N.C.O. on duty. This will be done at 
evening "stand to." 

(h) On being detailed for duty, a man will 
be informed at which hours he will come on 
duty. 

(i) When possible to do so, notice boards 
will be placed in each platoon's trench, on 
which will be pinned, daily, all orders regard- 
ing working parties, and a list of the men in 
the platoon, giving the time at which they will 
come on sentry and other duty. 

(j) Except under special circumstances, 
such, for instance, as a sentry being killed or 
wounded, no sentry will be relieved by an- 
other man unless the relief is properly carried 
out in the presence of a N.C.O. 

2. Sentries — By Night — (a) Sentries 
will be posted every 2 hours, except under bad 
weather conditions, when the length of the tour 
of sentry may be reduced. 

(b) From evening "stand to" till morning 
"stand to" one sentry to every three or four 
bays in the fire trench wiU be posted. If wir- 

136 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

ing or digging parties are out in front, or lis- 
tening posts are numerous, this number may 
be reduced. 

(c) The next relief will remain within 
reach of the sentry. 

;(d) Every sentry is to be regularly posted 
by a N.C.O., who will explain to him his du- 
ties and the front to be watched, and ascertain 
that the sentry and his rehef are aware of the 
position of the section and platoon command- 
ers, the sentries on either side, and whether 
there are any patrols or working parties out in 
front. Should there be salients in the line, the 
sentry wiU be carefully instructed, so as to 
avoid any possibility of him firing toward his 
own trenches. 

(e) By night or in places which have the 
reputation of being dangerous^, i.e., where en- 
emy are suspected of mining, advanced posts, 
etc., no man should ever be posted alone. 
There should be either a double sentry post, or 
the next relief should rest within kicking dis- 
tance of the sentry. 

137. 



HUNTING THE HUN 

By Day — (f) The number of sentries re- 
quired depends on the proximity of the ene- 
my's trench line and whether a good view to the 
front can be obtained, normally one to every 
four hays is sufficient. 

(g) Every sentry will be provided with a 
periscope. 

(h) Well protected "look out" posts for 
sentries will be built along the front trench 
line. 

( i ) Sending Out of Patrols — ^Patrols will 
never be sent out without definite orders 
as to what is required of them. Patrols 
will go via a listening post (if such exist) . All 
listening posts will be warned of the strength 
of the patrol and the approximate hour of de- 
parture and return. Word will be passed 
quietly along the line of sentries that a patrol 
is out in front. 

( j) As little challenging as possible will be 
done by sentries, and then only in a low tone of 
voice. 

The battalion quartermaster, who usually 
138 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

holds the honorary rank of captain, has charge 
of all rations and equipment for his battalion. 
He is assisted in this duty by the battalion 
quartermaster sergeant, who in turn very 
often goes to battalion advance headquarters 
with the rations. During the daytime at bat- 
talion rear headquarters or horse lines the 
quartermaster supervises the distribution of 
the allotted quantity of rations that is required 
for each company. All company quartermas- 
ter sergeants being present, they in their turn 
see that their company's amount of rations is 
safely delivered to the transport officer. The 
transport officer at night has his small ammu- 
nition carts or transports take the rations as 
near to the support line as is possible, the com- 
pany quartermaster sergeants going with him. 
From that point ration parties from the re- 
spective companies meet the company quar- 
termaster sergeant, who sees to the proper de- 
livery of the ration. In addition the party 
may have the mail, ammunition, or any short- 
ages of equipment that may be required, after 

139 



HUNTING THE HUN 

which each quartermaster sergeant reports to 
his company headquarters for orders. 

In the trenches we often have papers only 
two or three days old, and the news from them 
is literally devoured. As this is the only 
means by which we can find out how the war 
is going on, all newspapers and periodicals are 
looked on with great favour in the trenches. 

My sergeant reported to me when we were 
in the front line trench that Private Johnston 
had swollen feet. I went over to a shallow 
dugout where I found Johnston with his boots 
off. One foot in particular was very much 
swollen and blue. It had been raining hard 
since we were in the trenches. As we would 
stand down off the fire step, we would be in 
mud almost up to our knees. Trench knees 
were very prevalent at the early stages of the 
war. At present it is almost a crime for a man 
to allow himself to get it. Trench feet are 
caused by the extreme cold due to dampness; 
and not only dampness and cold, but to the in- 
action of the feet brought about by the heavy 

140 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

claying nature of the ground and the weight 
of the water surrounding the man's boots and 
legs. It was found that a warm layer of air 
between the foot and the outer covering was 
absolutely necessary if trench feet were to be 
avoided. An oiled silk stocking has been rec- 
ommended to be placed next to the skin and 
looser boots and loosened puttees are consid- 
ered necessary when in the trenches. At pres- 
ent we have long rubber boots that the boys 
wear when they occupy the trenches. They 
are considered trench stores and remain there. 
A batman is chosen by an officer to act as 
his orderly; his duties are many, and wherever 
the officer goes while in the trenches his bat- 
man accompanies him. The higher the rank 
of the officer the easier the work for the bat- 
man and the less the risk, although there are 
exceptional occasions when a commanding of- 
ficer takes as much risk as the junior Lieu- 
tenant under him. When a platoon officer 
leads his platoon "over the top" his batman 
goes with him ; he therefore takes the same risk 

141 



HUNTING THE HUN 

as the other men in the platoon, but he has sev- 
eral privileges that the private has not, such 
as: after he has attended to the requirements 
of his officer when out of the line he may spend 
the balance of his time as he deems fit, he is 
exempt from sentry and fatigue duties, and 
as a rule he has a good standing with the boys. 

Whilst in the trenches, we receive reports 
giving us information regarding the move- 
ments on the part of the enemy, and also de- 
scribing the number of shells that the enemy 
has fired at us and the number that we have 
fired in return. We also receive a com- 
munique that gives us information as to what 
has happened on the various sectors of the line, 
and also the result of any battles or raids that 
we have been participating in. By this we 
learn how we have been progressing along the 
whole of the frontage we have fought along. 

The splendid attack on April 9th gave us 
possession of the entire Vimy Ridge with the 
exception of its extreme northwest point. 
This the Germans held on to stubbornly and 

142 





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TRENCH ROUTINE 

were not finally ejected until April llth. 
Southward the British passed on down the 
backward slope of the ridge and seized Farbus 
and its woods. On April 12th, our army being 
fairly established on the ridge Sir Douglas 
Haig pressed home the attack upon Lens. On 
that day and the following day, despite bad 
weather, the advance was steadily continued. 
The villages behind the ridge, Vimy, Givenchy, 
Angres, Bailleul, WUlerval, were taken one 
after the other and our lines began to close in 
upon Lens from the northwest. One factor 
which contributed to our success was undoubt- 
edly the co-operation of the tanks which ac- 
companied the advance. The first appearance 
of the tanks caused great excitement amongst 
us, as it also caused consternation and dismay 
amongst the Germans. 

The tank is a factor of the great war and 
is emblematic of Britain's purpose, slow but 
relentlessly sure. It lumbers out over the 
waste of No Man's Land toward the German 
line, mowing down the enemy with its deadly 

145 



HUNTING THE HUN 

machine guns and is undeterred by the rifle or 
machine gun fire of the enemy. It goes crash- 
ing on to and over the enemy trenches, going 
down one side of the shell or mine craters, and 
up the other, trampling down the strongest of 
barbed wire entanglements, trees, etc. 

As this monster goes on, few Germans are 
brave enough to face an advancing force. In 
our advance on Lens the artillery preparation 
was so perfect that the wire barriers were 
everywhere swept aside. The German high 
command made a desperate attempt to divert 
our advance on Lens by a heavy counterat- 
tack along the Cambrai-Bapaume Road, which 
was delivered by about four divisions. We re- 
pulsed it, taking 300 prisoners and inflicting a 
casualty of some 10,000 of which 1500 were 
killed; our success was largely due to the ar- 
tillery. 

All officers and men look forward to the de- 
livery of the mail. In the early stages of the 
war, it was a very common practice for both 
ofiicers and men that had no lady relatives to 

146 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

write to the "Agony or Personal Column" of 
one of the London daily papers, asking for 
some lady to correspond with them. The ads 
would read, "Lonely Officer, or Lonely Sol- 
dier, would like to correspond with some 
Young Lady for period of War." Invariably 
a norw de plume and designation of battalion 
were used, and the result was that a large 
number of letters were received. 

I remember a young officer who put an ad 
in the paper, and for some days there was no 
result. The officers all began to tease him and 
I think he regretted having informed us what 
he had done. However, one day the mail cor- 
poral brought three full mail bags all for the 
"Lonely Officer." Things began to look 
lively. He was now in a dilemma. Could he 
read and answer them all before he would have 
to go in to the front line? It seemed a stupen- 
dous task. He had a few volunteers to help 
him to read his correspondence, but no one 
was willing to answer it. For three weeks 
afterwards there were no letters, then one day 

147 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Brigade Headquarters post office sent word 
that there was a transport car coming along 
with Lieutenant K.'s mail. The car was com- 
pletely loaded down with his correspondence, 
so they wished to know what he wanted done 
with the balance. It was not long afterwards 
that correspondence from the Agony Column 
ceased. 

The censoring of the mail is sometimes very 
amusing. Yet it has its pathetic side. I cen- 
sored a letter from a boy to his mother. He 
had run away from home, and enlisted under 
an assumed name. He just had begun to 
reahse that if he was killed in action, his 
mother would never know, so it was a very 
penitent son that sent a very loving letter to 
his mother at home. The war brings out all 
that is best in the "boys," though some of them 
are sad rogues as they vow eternal love to 
many girls at the same time. No harm is 
meant, I am sure, it is probably to break the 
monotony of the life in the trenches. Some 
of the letters have quite a number of crosses 

148 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

on them, like this xxxxxxx, denoting kisses, 
and probably stuck away in one corner we 
will see one small x with "For the Censor," 
marked above it. 

The reason why all letters in France are 
censored is to prevent any information of mili- 
tary importance reaching the enemy. 

While out at rest our battalion received or- 
ders from brigade headquarters to prepare a 
small raiding party with the object of putting 
out of action a German machine gun that had 
given the troops that were then holding the 
line considerable trouble. 

Aerial photographs and map location of the 
small sector of the German line where the ma- 
chine gun emplacement was located had been 
sent us. I was detailed to take charge of the 
party and was given instructions to destroy this 
machine gun emplacement and if possible to 
bring back some prisoners for purpose of in- 
formation. 

I selected ten men including one sergeant 
and one corporal and for three days we prac- 

149 



HUNTING THE HUN 

ticed for this raid by going over the tapes and 
also making use of some previously dug 
trenches, so that every man would know ex- 
actly what part he would take when the actual 
raid would be pulled off. 

These men were equipped just as they 
would be when the actual raid would take 
place, four men were armed with rifles and 
bayonets, the others were armed with bombs 
and knobkerries and in addition all had their 
wire cutters. 

It is usual for us and also the enemy to have 
a narrow zigzag passageway through the 
barbed wire entanglements to afford us an exit 
for a party going out into No Man's Land. 
Our battalion scout officer the night previous 
to the raid had been out doing special recon- 
naissance along the sector of the German line 
that we had to raid, and while he was crawling 
along the edge of their barbed-wire he had dis- 
covered the opening. This very valuable in- 
formation I had received from him. 

The second night we were in the front line 
150 



TRENCH jaOUTINE 

trenches I received orders that I was to make 
the raid that night. 

I gave the sergeant the necessary instruc- 
tions to have the men prepared and ready to 
leave our line at one A.M. Part of the instruc- 
tions were that the men were to have their 
faces blackened and a small white chalk mark 
on the front of their steel helmets. On the 
back of each man was a small piece of bright 
tin about two inches in diameter, fastened on 
their tunic. 

Notices had been sent to the units on our 
flanks that a raiding party was going out at 
one A.M. 

Two hours' time was allowed us to accom- 
plish this. I took my compass bearings and at 
one A.M. led the boys in single file through 
our barbed-wire entanglements into No Man's 
Land. 

The G^erman barbed-wire entanglements were 
about two hundred and fifty yards away from 
us. I headed right for where I estimated the 

151 



HUNTING THE HUN 

opening in the German wire entanglements 
would be. 

As the German flares went up we would 
try to get into shell holes if possible before 
they burst. We were not very conspicuous 
as long as they were bursting ahead of us. The 
great danger of being observed was when the 
flares burst behind us. 

Our progress over No Man's Land was very 
slow. Not a word was spoken. I signalled 
back as pre-arranged to my boys by throwing 
small clods of earth to the man in rear who 
passed back the signals to those behind him. 

In a previous counterattack the Huns had 
lost this part of No Man's Land. The result 
was that quite a number of German dead lay 
on this particular sector unburied. This was 
due to the continual artUlery activity on both 
sides. 

As we reached the middle of No Man's 
Land, I raised my head carefully above the 
lip of a shell hole while a German white flare 
was up. To my consternation I saw what was 

152 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

evidently a German battle patrol coming 
crouching through their barbed- wire. I counted 
in all twenty-five men. 

Things looked ominous for my party, as 
they outnumbered us over two to one. I had 
no desire to go back, without accomplishing 
my mission. Neither did I wish to engage my 
men in personal conflict with such odds against 
them. So I sent my scout with a message to 
the officer who was on duty in our sector of the 
line and informed him what I had observed. 
At the same time I asked him to pass the word 
along to open up a machine gun fire at a point 
that would get the approaching Hun battle 
patrol. 

It was with mixed feelings of pleasure that 
I heard our Lewis guns open fire in the re- 
quired direction, and I had the satisfaction of 
seeing the approaching Huns beat a hasty re- 
treat, leaving a number of dead and wounded 
behind them. We waited for what seemed to 
be hours, in reality it was only fifteen minutes, 
and then we crawled carefully forward towards 

153 



HUNTING THE HUN 

the German barbed-wire entanglements. The 
Hmis in their somewhat hasty retreat had for- 
gotten to haul in their white tape line and this 
was the means that guided us through their 
barbed-wire. As soon as I got almost through 
the barbed-wire, I immediately jumped up, my 
boys doing likewise, and made a rush for the 
German trench. 

Here I discovered a German sentry in the 
act of loading a pistol to send up a flare. He 
was so taken by surprise and fear that 
he immediately held up his hands, mumbling 
"Kamerad/* We at once gagged him. As 
previously arranged my party divided in two, 
one-half going to the right under my command 
and the other to the left in charge of the ser- 
geant. We had no time to lose as their trench 
mortars might open up at any moment. 

I surprised a machine-gun crew and quickly 
put them out of business with a few Mills 
bombs. On the left my sergeant surprised 
and captured two prisoners. We then quickly 
got out of the trench, pushing our prisoners 

154 



TRENCH ROUTINE 

ahead of us as we crawled back over No Man's 
Land. By this time the Germans had dis- 
covered the result of our raid and began at 
once to send up their white flares with great 
rapidity. In addition their "flying-pigs," 
"fish-tails," "rum-jars" and "Minnenwerfers'* 
made things very lively for us in No Man's 
Land. Our prisoners were just as keen to 
reach our trenches safely as we were. How- 
ever, we had to remain out on bur stomachs in 
No Man's Land until the white flares had 
ceased to go up with such rapidity. It seemed 
a lifetime for me since I had left our trenches,, 
and I began to wonder if I would ever get 
back to them again. As I heard some of my 
men moan, I knew that they had been hit, but 
I knew that our stretcher bearers would soon 
be out to give them their required attention 
once we got safely back to our line. 

We slowly wormed our way back, and it 
was very sweet music to my ears to be chal- 
lenged by our own sentry as we approached 
the trench. I made myself known, and very 

155 



HUNTING THE HUN 

soon we were all in and gave the necessary 
information for stretcher bearers to be sent 
out. Our casualties were one killed and two 
slightly wounded. 

The information gained from the prisoners 
was of great importance. 



CHAPTER VII 

BEHIND THE LINES 

■Alt, front line infantry units in France are, 
like gypsies, moving all the time. It is seldom 
we are out at rest at the same place twice in- 
side of six months. Rests are named accord- 
ing to the units that are out of the trenches for 
that time. Battalion rests may be for seven 
or ten days; brigade rest may be as long as 
two weeks; division rest may last one month. 

We call the time we are out of the line rest, 
but in reality we have a strict period of train- 
ing to undergo. At the same time there is a 
great deal of amusement, without the danger 
attached to it that we have when in the 
trenches. 

The boys may start P. T. and B. F. (Physi- 
cal Training and Bayonet Fighting) for one 
hour. Then squad and company drill until 

157 



HUNTING THE HUN 

noon or, if an attack is to take place in the 
near future, they may be practicing for the 
same by going over the tapes. In the after- 
noon they may be given lectures, rifle practice, 
bombing, or Lewis gun drill. This may con- 
tinue until about 4 :00 P.M., and then they are 
dismissed for the balance of the day. 

The Y. M. C. A. usually has moving pic- 
ture theatres nearby for the benefit of the 
troops in that vicinity. Football, baseball and 
boxing also play a prominent part in keeping 
the men fit. In the evening there may be a 
good concert given by the Y. M. C. A., prob- 
ably winding up by a church service. Thus 
the spiritual welfare of the boys is looked after. 
Spare moments are spent writing letters. 

During one of our rests at the little village 
called Villers-au-Bois, the Town Major, who 
was a captain in one of the Imperial battalions, 
after he had his staff get our officers and men 
the necessary accommodation^ informed us 
that the Middlesex battalion had been in these 

158 



BEHIND THE LINES 

billets a short time after the First Expedi- 
tionary Force had landed in France. 

When the First British Expeditionary Force 
landed in France, some famous regiments 
came over with it. Among these were the 
Middlesex regiment and the famous Scotch 
regiment, "The Black Watch." As the Black 
Watch marched through the small French 
village, the following dialogue took place be- 
tween two old Frenchmen who saw them ap- 
proaching. The elder of the two turned to his 
companion and said in the patois of the region : 
"Then it is true that Angleterre has no men! 
So she is sending out the womans to fight!" 
The other Frenchman replied: "No, no — they 
are not womans — for they have got mous- 
taches." "Sacre, Sacre" replied his friend, "I 
have it! This is the famous Middlesex regi- 
ment." 

During our rest at this small village, we had 
Canadian corps sports, which were organised 
by the Y. M. C. A. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th 
and 5th divisions had all their representatives. 

159 



HUNTING THE HUN 

The latter division had only a few units in the 
field, but it seemed to pull down the most 
honours. This division has since been broken 
up and used to reinforce the other four. 
Major-General Currie and his staff were 
present, as were all the Canadian troops that 
were out of the line and not on duty. Our 
sports consisted of running, short and long 
distance, baseball, and football, the usual 
athletic performances. It was here that I saw 
Tom Longboat, the famous Indian runner, 
compete, but he was beaten for first place in 
a five-mile race by another Indian. 

About six o'clock the same evening I 
noticed our observation balloons were up. 
These balloons were about four miles behind 
our trenches and three miles or so apart. 
They were taking advantage of the very clear 
weather for observation purposes along the 
German lines and back areas. 

It may not be out of place to describe an 
observation balloon. This is a captive balloon 
fastened sometimes to a motor truck by long 

160 



BEHIND THE LINES 

stout ropes, and maj^ be hauled along the road, 
if the Germans commence to shell them with 
their explosive shells. The balloon is com- 
posed of one elongated ballonette, inflated 
with hydrogen or some other kind of light gas. 
A second internal ballonette is inflated with 
air, which is required in order to maintain the 
shape of the balloon. By means of the keel 
at the end, the balloon is oriented to the wind. 
On a clear day the observation balloon rises 
to a height of 200 to 400 yards and remains up 
for several hours, being occasionally pulled 
down to relieve the observation officer who 
takes his position in the nacelle or basket be- 
neath the balloon. From there he reports 
enemy movements by telephone to head- 
quarters. 

I was watching an aeroplane flying very 
high in our direction and, as our anti-aircraft 
shells were bursting beneath it, the little white 
pufl*s of smoke of the shells' burst indicated to 
us that the aeroplane was a Hun machine. 
Nothing seemed to daunt the aviator and as 

161 



HUNTING THE HUN 

he hovered over the observation balloon on my 
right I heard his machine gun firing. A few 
bombs were dropped and the balloon took fire. 

The observation officer in the meantime had 
jumped out of his basket. He began to fall 
through space until his parachute opened. 
Then we witnessed a thrilling race as the burn- 
ing balloon and the officer in his parachute 
began to descend to the ground, pursued by 
the Hun aviator who was using his machine 
gun on the unfortunate observation officer. 
Luckily the observation officer got safely to 
the ground. 

The next target of this daring Hun aviator 
was the observation balloon in front of where 
we were standing. The observation officer 
immediately jumped out of his basket and got 
safely down to the ground. The Hun aviator, 
however, destroyed this balloon and then re- 
tired back to his lines, evidently having used 
up all of his bombs. He came back an hour 
later and destroyed a third balloon, but this 
time his daring was nipped in the bud as he 

162 



BEHIND THE LINES 

was brought down by one of our anti-aircraft 
shells somewhere near one of our rear support 
lines. One of his hands had been shattered so 
that he was unable to manipulate his levers. 
The boys had no sooner taken him prisoner and 
got him clear of his machine than the German 
artillery opened up and with a shell blew his 
aeroplane to pieces. It must be understood 
that our aeroplanes cannot be everywhere at 
the same time. They had evidently gone on a 
mission to some other locality and the Huns 
had probably been aware of this fact. Hence 
the audacity of this aviator. 

Later the same evening I was walking along 
the Villers-au-Bois and Carency Road when I 
heard the drone of an aeroplane behind me. 
I turned round and saw an aeroplane flying 
very fast and low. I was at that time in the 
centre of the road. On both sides were tents 
occupied by the men of an artillery battery 
who were also out at rest. Suddenly I heard 
three loud reports and knew at once the Hun 
was dropping bombs. As I imprudently 

163 



HUNTING THE HUN 

glanced up in the air I could see the aviator 
leaning over the side of his plane and the Mal- 
tese Cross on the wings, as he turned his ma^ 
chine gun upon the tents around me. The 
observation officer was firing what we called a 
"chaser" bullet. These bullets at dusk or night 
show a reddish streak as they travel through the 
air, giving the aviator an idea of the direction 
of his fire. There is usually one chaser bullet 
to every five cartridges. However, this aviator 
was soon brought down by our anti-aircraft 
picket, which was waiting for him. As he was 
flying low they had no trouble in bringing his 
machine down. 

In the early part of July I arrived at a little 
place called BuUy-Grenay. This town had 
a population of about 2,000 and was almost 
four miles from Lens. We had to be very 
careful how we approached it as we were with- 
in easy shelling distance from the Germans as 
well as easily observable by them. This town 
had not suffered very much from shell fire. 
One of our Majors, whose turn it was to remain 

164 



BEHIND THE LINES 

out of the line, had been sent with an advance 
party to see about our billets. I was left behind 
in charge of the rear party with instructions to 
have all billets cleaned up that we had occu- 
pied so that the next battalion that came in 
would find them all right. 

Later on, when I reached this town, I saw 
the Major surrounded by a crowd of women. 
I approached to see what was the matter and 
then saw one woman gesticulating and shaking 
her fist at the Major. He, poor fellow, could 
not understand the reason of this unnecessary 
excitement. 

After saluting, I asked him what was the 
matter. He informed me that the Town Major 
had given him the names of the various civil- 
ians who could accommodate officers and men, 
and as this lady's name was on the list he had 
asked her to clean up her room for an officer. 
She had resented this very much, as she 
thought her rooms were extra clean. The 
Major's poor French had evidently been mis- 
understood. I spoke to the lady in French 

165 



HUNTING THE HUN 

and tried to smooth matters over. She kept 
a little store which was named "Le Pauvre 
Dia&Z^^^ or "Poor Devil." 

After I had bought a few post-cards Ma- 
dame told me that I could have the room. She 
also informed me that the Germans often 
shelled the railway station which was not more 
than 150 yards away from her store. 

That same afternoon we were inforij ed that 
our battalion was coming out of the line. As 
it is customary for us to buy extra rations for 
the boys when they come out of the trenches 
and as I was secretary of the canteen, the 
Colonel authorised me to have something good 
ready for the tired and weary men when they 
would arrive at about 3 :00 A.M. in the morn- 
ing. A sufficient number of names had not 
been given of the civilians who had accommo- 
dation for officers. Therefore, the battalion be- 
ing short of one billet for an officer, I volun- 
teered to give up my billet to this officer 
when he should come out of the line. I 
therefore told my hostess I would be obliged 

166 



BEHIND THE LINES 

to leave, saying that Lieutenant S would 

take over my room. Madame would not hear 
of this, insisting upon my accepting her room. 
So she and her daughter slept downstairs. 
Later on, when the battalion arrived in the 
small hours of the morning, and after each 
officer had seen that his men had received a 
good meal and all been accommodated 
properly in their billets, they in turn had some- 
thing to eat, afterwards going to bed. 

There was very little to do the next day, but 
we had three men wounded as they were in the 
street near the railway station. The Huns 
were aiming at this station in the expectation 
of probably hitting some French coal and am- 
munition trains as they came into it. The fol- 
lowing night as I lay awake in bed I could hear 
a whistling noise as the German shells passed 
over our house. I judged they were going in 
the direction of Les Brebis, about half a mile 
beyond Bully-Grenay. 

Suddenly, when everything was quiet, I 
heard a loud explosion. A crump had struck 

167 



HUNTING THE HUN 

the railway station. Madame from do^vnstairs 
shouted to the other officer and me that there 
was no danger as the Germans were only firing 
at the usual target, the railway station. 

On July 10th, as we were out on our train- 
ing ground practising for an attack, we ob- 
served some German aeroplanes. But our 
anti-aircraft pickets had also observed them 
and soon drove them away. 

In the afternoon as we marched back to the 
billets, I noticed that during our absence sev- 
eral batteries of artillery had come into this 
little town and were then busy firing at the 
Boche line. When I returned to my billet 
that evening Madame told me that one of the 
guns that had been firing was situated in the 
rear of her house. This appeared to frighten 
her very much. 

About 2:00 A.M. in the morning we were 
all awakened by a very loud explosion. All 
the window panes were blown out and the glass 
of the small conservatory was smashed to 
atoms. Madame, in a very excited tone of 

168 



BEHIND THE LINES 

voice, shouted to us to come downstairs at once, 
not forgetting to bring our gas helmets. 
We went outside to see about our men's safety, 
then returned. After dressing very hastily we 
descended the stairs and were led by Madame 
and her daughter to the cellar which was rather 
shallow, not more than ten feet deep and about 
ten feet wide. There were some provisions 
stored in the cellar and in the corner a small 
stove and a coal bin, a few chairs and a bed. 

In the course of conversation Madame in- 
formed us that her husband and another 
daughter had been prisoners in the hands of 
the Germans since 1914. At the time they 
had been taken prisoners they had been on a 
visit to Lille. They were returning to Bully- 
Grenay when they were cut off by the Ger- 
mans. She had not received any news and did 
not know whether they were alive or dead at 
that time. There are many families in France 
in this predicament, and the torture of these 
poor people is quite pitiful. 

The shelling ceased about daybreak and I 
169 



HUNTING THE HUN 

was glad to get out of the cellar, as it really 
afforded very little protection. If a shell had 
struck the house one was liable to be killed by 

the falling masonry. Lieutenant S and 

myself went over to the billets that our men 
were in and found them all safe, after which we 
returned to our own billet. 

The inhabitants of little villages and towns 
near the firing line all take risks of this kind. 
Many of them are killed, but they seem to cling 
to their homes whilst they have a possible 
chance to do so. The children when they go 
to school carry gas masks, which they use 
when required, as they never know when the 
Germans will send over gas shells. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE "BULL RING" 

Near a certain town "somewhere in 
France" there is a large training ground that 
is called the "bull ring." Here men from the 
Imperial, Canadian, Australian and New- 
foundland Forces are trained and instructed 
in the various branches of the service. 

The "bull ring" is about two miles square 
and is divided into sections. Each section is 
allotted for the purpose of training a large 
number of men in special branches of the 
service such as bayonet fighting, physical 
training, bombing, trench warfare, musketry, 
wiring, machine gunnery, topography, mili- 
tary engineering and the use of the gas mask. 

The training for the gas masks is very sim- 
ple. Each man is trained to adjust his mask 
in a few seconds. After that he is tested, with 

171 



HUNTING THE HUN 

the gas mask on, by going through a small hut 
that is filled up with lachrymatory gas about 
four times the strength of any gas that the 
Huns would be likely to send over. 

During the summer of 1917 the camp con- 
tained about 80,000 men of the first British 
Army. In the morning each depot battalion 
would send its men to the "bull ring" for train- 
ing. They would usually arrive about 8:30 
A.M. and would work up till noon. Then 
would break off to fall in again probably about 
two. After that, an hour and a half was de- 
voted to lectures, etc. They would be 
marched back again about 3:30 P.M. to their 
respective headquarters. 

The training camp was admirably arranged, 
as it brought in close contact the soldiers of the 
Commonwealth and the Dominions with those 
of the Motherland. 

Discipline plays a very important part in 
the training of the soldier. Great care is 
taken to teach the men to salute properly. 
The officers in turn must return the soldier's 

172 



THE "BULL RING" 

salute in the prescribed manner. Each officer 
salutes his senior. A well disciplined bat- 
talion is easily recognised by the smart manner 
in which the members salute. 

The men must be shaved every morning, 
shoes shined and buttons polished. Every- 
thing about them must be spick and span. 
They must also appear in full fighting order. 
Standing steady in the ranks must be strictly 
adliered to and all movements in drill must be 
done with snap and precision. The small box 
respirators and P.H. helmets (gas helmets) 
are often used during the P.T. and B.F, 
(physical training and bayonet fighting). 
We also march on the training ground wearing 
small box respirators and P.H. helmets alter- 
nately. This accustoms the men to the use of 
the gas helmet. 

Boxing plays a prominent part in the train- 
ing of our soldiers, and is a great help in the 
bayonet fighting, as it teaches the men the 
quickness of eye and movement, which is as 

173 



HUNTING THE HUN 

essential for a good boxer as it is ior & good 
bayonet fighter. 

One of the many games that is a source of 
amusement and very popular with the boys is 
known by the name of "McGrady." It is 
very simple but it affords the boys a great deal 
of pleasure. The instructor forms the men 
in a circle around him, each man being armed 
with his rifle and bayonet with scabbard on. 
He then explains to them this very simple 
game which gets their interest and also causes 
them to concentrate their minds. The instruc- 
tor will then say, "McGrady says, 'Do this/ " 
and he then makes a point with the bayonet, all 
his class doing the same. 

If, however, he says, "McGrady says, 'Do 
thaty* he will probably make a short point 
and no one must move. If any man has made 
a short point he must come out in the centre, 
take the instructor's place and try to catch 
someone else off his guard. It is just the 
difference in the words "This" and "That," 
and all depends upon the cleverness of the 

1T4 



THE "BULL RING" 

instructor in being able to tell the tale to 
divert the men's minds and be able to catch 
them off their guard. 

Many of the soldiers who were undergoing 
training here had been wounded and, after 
being passed as physically fit for the front 
again, were trained with men who had never 
been up the line. 

In some cases they were given instruction 
by an instructor who had never been in the 
front line. Now when a soldier is wounded his 
name appears on the casualty list. He is 
allowed to put on his left sleeve a narrow gold 
stripe for each time he has been wounded, and 
the Tommy is very sensitive about taking in- 
structions from anyone who has not these 
stripes. One incident that was brought to my 
notice will show how sensitive Tommy is as 
to whom he has instructing him. 

A certain sergeant, who had been gassed at 
Ypres, had also been fighting in various other 
battles but, luckily for him, he had never been 
wounded. Therefore, he could not wear the 

175 



HUNTING THE HUN 

stripe. He was giving instruction to the class 
on gas drill. Nearly all the class were wear- 
ing a gold stripe for wounds received. 

I was in the lecture room when the sergeant 
commenced his lecture, but subsequently I was 
called away for a few minutes. Upon my return 
I discovered that the lecture was practically at 
a standstill. All the Tommies had turned 
their backs on the sergeant and would not 
listen to him. They thought he had never 
been up the line and they resented very much 
taking instruction from one who, in their 
opinion, had had a bomb-proof job, I asked 
the sergeant what was the matter, and he told 
me that he thought his class was under the 
impression that he had not been up the line. 
I therefore allowed him, before proceeding 
with the lecture, to relate some of his experi- 
ences at the front. After that he had no fur- 
ther trouble with that class. 

After a certain length of time training at 
the "bull ring," the men are drafted and or- 
dered to go up the line to reinforce battalions 

176 



THE "BtJLL RING" 

at the front. I was given charge of a draft 
of 200 men. The men selected were duly 
warned to fall in on the following morn at 7.00 
A.M. at their respective parade grounds. They 
were all delighted and, as most of them had 
never heard a shot fired, they were anxious and 
keen to go up the line. By 7:30 the next 
morning I had inspected the men carefully. 
Afterwards they were inspected by the adju- 
tant and the colonel. Each man, I may say, 
had his full fighting kit on. 

After a brief speech by the Colonel we 
marched to the railway station. As we ap- 
proached the station the French soldiers, who 
were guarding the German prisoners that were 
working on the railway tracks, sprang to at- 
tention and shouted, "Bon Voyage^ Bon 
Voyage." When I arrived at the station the 
railway transport officer met me and pointed 
out the cars that we Were to occupy. There 
was a canteen at the station run by some Eng- 
lish ladies, who were serving the men with 
cakes and dainty slices of bread and butter 

177 



HUNTING THE HUN 

and tea or cocoa. The ladies were all very 
refined and were not paid for their services. 
They seemed to take a great deal of pleasure 
in making the soldiers happy and contented. 

As we would proceed along the railway and 
approach a nearby town the little French chil- 
dren would shout out, ''Bon Voyage, Bon 
Voyage, Bully Beef, Bully Beef, Biscuit, Bis- 
cuit." 

Our boys would throw them out the rations, 
which would be picked up quickly by the poor 
French children. Upon arrival at the rail- 
head each man would turn in all the extra food 
he had not eaten and would then be marched to 
the depot to be assigned to billets for the night. 
In the morning the various drafts would be 
sorted out and sent to reinforce their fighting 
units. 

Here is an incident that occurred whilst I 
was in charge of a party at the "bull ring." A 
sergeant was giving a lecture on musketry to 
a class. He began in this strain: "The rifle is 
a soldier's best friend on active service." 

173 



THE "BULL RING" 

After that he described the length of the rifle, 
the length of the barrel, the muzzle velocity, 
the calibre of the ammunition used, the width 
of the lands, the depth of the grooves, and 
the mechanism of the bolt. He began to de- 
scribe the care of arms. To emphasize his 
point, he repeated: "The rifle is the soldier's 
best friend and I want you to treat it as such. 
Treat it as you would treat your wife. Rub 
it well over with an oily rag." This caused 
a decided grin on the faces of the married men 
in the ranks. 

We take great pains to train our men in 
machine gunnery. A barrage of machine 
guns on any part of the line is always danger- 
ous to the enemy and is advantageous to 
us. Usually a barrage may be laid at dis- 
tances from a thousand to five hundred 
yards. The cone of fire is very deadly, but 
when it gets as near as five hundred yards the 
trajectory, being flat or low, is then dangerous 
to us if we stand up, so that we have to be 
very careful how we work under it. 

179 



HUNTING THE HUN 

'No soldiers in the world are fit to cope with 
the British soldier in bayonet fighting. Their 
training is intensive, and a man must be phys- 
ically fit in every respect to be good at this 
element of warfare. A good boxer is usually 
a good bayonet fighter, and I notice that in 
the U. S. National Army there is great atten- 
tion being paid to boxing as a means of making 
the men proficient at this game. 

I remember an amusing incident which took 
place in the "bull ring.'* We had our bags 
suspended from horizontal bars by strong 
cords. These cords had a thin piece of twine 
tied between each bag. The bayonet fighters 
were placed in a trench, and at the word "Go,'* 
they had to run a distance of about fifty yards, 
jump over another trench, and make a lunge 
with a bayonet at the bag. One man, who 
did not notice this twine which was between 
the bags, made his lunge, then ran between the 
bags and did not stoop. The twine caught 
him right on the point of the nose, taking all 
the skin off it, and throwing him back into 

180 



THE "BULL RING" 

the trench. He could not realise how he had 
been thrown there, and it was only after he 
had been assisted out of the trench and was led 
up to the bags that he believed he had not been 
assaulted by some of his fellow soldiers. He 
said afterwards he never noticed the string be- 
tween the bags. 

Particular attention is given to all musketry 
instruction. This subject is always interest- 
ing to lecture on. I was giving a lecture one 
day on what we call the use of combined sights, 
which is only used when a platoon or company 
fires at a range of a thousand yards or over 
and they are not sure of the exact range. For 
instance, if I wanted the men to fire at a 
given target, I would give a fire order as 
under : — 

No. 1 and 2. Platoons at 1050. 

No. 3 and 4. Platoons at 1150. Five rounds 
rapid fire. 

I do not use the term yards, because it is 
understood that 1050 means 1050 yards and 
1150 means 1150 yards. We would thus have 

183 



HUNTING THE HUN 

a range of a hundred yards between each 
platoon's fire, so we would be almost sure to 
get the enemy in the intervening range. 

I was taking my class in instruction and 
asked each man in his turn to give "Fire 
Order." I was rather surprised when I heard 
a voice describe very minutely the target, but 
giving the range as follows :— 

No. 1 and 2. Platoons at half past ten. 

No. 3 and 4. Platoons at half past eleven. 
Five rounds rapid fire. 

I looked round at my pupil and asked him 
if he meant No. 1 and 2 to fire at half past 
ten, and numbers 3 and 4 at half past eleven. 
He said, "Yes, sir. You gave your fire order 
10:50 and 11:50." I then had to explain to 
him that my order meant yards, not time, and 
that his time scheme would give the enemy time 
to retreat to Berlin before firing commenced. 

Physical training or, as it is called in the 
army, P.T., is the first thing that a soldier has 
to undergo to make him fit for the arduous life 
of a soldier. 

184 



THE "BULL RING" 

One of the soldiers who was at the "bull 
ring" was a rather stout block of a man. His 
comrades called him "Shorty." He weighed 
over 200 pounds and his flesh was very soft, 
and when at P.T. I heard him groan many 
a time when he had to get down on his hands 
and feet, stretch himself full length without 
allowing his chest to touch the ground, and 
then raise himself up and down on his hands. 
Poor "Shorty" must have been in physical 
torture, but we had to reduce him in flesh, and 
he was game. When he had to lie flat on his 
back, and raise his feet into the air, keeping 
his hands on the ground without moving the 
body, it was very trying. It looked simple 
and it is simple, but when a man weighs over 
200 pounds, raising the feet from the thighs 
upwards and keeping the other portion of the 
body level on the ground is no sinecure. 
However, "Shorty" stuck to it. Then we had 
races one day for money prizes. Someone 
asked "Shorty" to enter the race. He said, 
"Yes, all right, I will, if I can get the limit 

185 



HUNTING THE HUN 

in your handicap." This was assented to, and 
"Shorty" entered. 

When the time for the race arrived, he came 
out on the track in his canvas shppers and a 
pair of old khaki overalls. Everyone laughed 
at the idea of "Shorty's" running in this race. 
Certainly his appearance was against him as 
a sprint runner. I asked him how he fancied 
his chances were in his heat, and he said, "Fine, 
sir, I can win easy." I believed him, although 
others laughed uproariously. 

When the heat was ready to h6 run, just 
as they were getting on their marks, "Shorty" 
shouted out, "You fellows behind can get a 
good view of me as I break the tape." "Rats, 
Rats," his fellow competitors shouted, "get on 
your mark." 

When they were all on their marks, the 
starter told them to get set. "Shorty" got 
down in a very professional manner. He had 
made two small toe holes in the ground, and 
with his body bent to the ground he was all 

186 



THE "BULL RING'* 

ready when the pistol went off. "Shorty" 
was away like a shot out of a gun. 

Run! Why he seemed to fly for a short 
distance! All at once he slowed down and 
placed his hand to his side, but all the same he 
painfully got home first. Then he collapsed. 
The other runners were all curious and could 
not understand how he had beaten them, but 
he laid it down to the physical training, ex- 
pressing grave doubts as to whether he would 
be fit for the final. The final heat came along, 
and "Shorty" turned out in his overalls. 
Somehow or other he had managed to dig up 
a pair of running pumps and he sprinted 
around on them quite lively. Eventually all 
the competitors got on their marks, but just 
before the starter got them away "Shorty" 
shouted out, "Halloa, you fellows in the rear, 
have you any news to send to your friends? 
Because if you have I would like to carry it 
along for you." 

This time there was a growl from the other 
finalists, who told him that he would see their 

187 



HUNTING THE HUN 

dust. After a lot of badinage they all got 
set, and the pistol cracked. "Shorty" came 
home an easy winner, looking around at the 
other competitors. He could have given a 
start to any one of them and beaten them 
badly. 

Later on we found out he was an old time 
champion sprinter. 

In the training for "bombing" many people 
think that baseball players are the best men 
for this kind of work. This is not so. The 
man who has been used to bowling at cricket 
is the better man. Bombs are thrown in what 
we would call a lobbing or overhead throw. 
I have seen many baseballers throw the bombs 
in the same manner in which they would throw 
the baseball, and have in a few instances seen 
their shoulders dislocated in throwing. The 
cricketer on the other hand had the natural 
and easiest manner of throwing the ball. 
Great attention should be paid to bombing. 

Every soldier should have the rudiments of 
learning in this branch of the service, as it is 

188 



THE "BULL RING" 

essential that all soldiers should learn to read 
a map and be able to draw a sketch of any 
trench or sector of the line which they may 
occupy. 

I remember examining some sketches that 
had been made by men who had been given an 
outpost scheme in which they had to place what 
we call our sentry groups, picquets, etc. One 
sketch that was submitted to me showed a tree 
here and there on the sketch, but nowhere 
could I see anything that looked like a road or 
even like an outpost. I had the sketcher 
brought to me and asked him where his outpost 
was. His reply was rather staggering. He 
said, "Isn't it true, sir, that outposts must keep 
under cover, so that no one can observe them." 
I said, "Yes, certainly, that is true, but still I 
cannot see your outposts." He said, "No, sir, 
it is under cover, I did not put it on the paper 
as I did not want it to be observed." 



CHAPTER IX 

THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

What is the Red Cross? 

It is the world's international ideal of mercy. 
It knows no bounds of racial, religious or 
political separation. Wherever and whenever 
war, pestilence, storm, flood or disaster has 
wrought suffering, want or distress, there it 
has gone and brought relief, with the ready- 
hands of unselfish aid. 

Who first organised relief for those 
wounded, sick, or neglected on the field of 
battle? The Knights Hospitallers first had 
the idea, which had its birth in the Hospital of 
St. John at Jerusalem. Although driven out 
of the Holy Land by the Moslems, this institu- 
tion re-established itself at Malta and is still 
in existence. 

What nation first organised such relief? 
190 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

Great Britain, during the Crimean war, sent 
Florence Nightingale in 1854 to the hospitals 
of Scutari. When Miss Nightingale with 
thirty-eight other nurses reached Scutari she 
found pest houses, rather than hospitals, with 
open sewers beneath the buildings. Contagious 
cases were taken in by the thousands. So suc- 
cessful was Miss Nightingale in bringing order 
out of chaos that she is recognised to-day as one 
of the greatest individual organisers of war re- 
lief. 

Who first conceived such service on an inter- 
national basis? 

Henri Dunant, a Swiss physician on the 
battlefield of Solferino, Italy, in 1859 organ- 
ised a group of volunteers to help administer 
to the wounded. At that time great confu- 
sion and consequent inefficiency prevailed be- 
cause of the multiplicity of relief flags. As 
a result of these experiences and under the 
inspiration of the work of Florence Nightin- 
gale, Doctor Dunant formulated the first pro- 
posals for an international organisation to care 

191 



HUNTING THE HUN 

for the sick and wounded in time of war. He 
suggested two years later to the Geneva 
Society of Public Utilities a single and uni- 
form hospital flag for all nations. In 1864! 
an international conference of 14 nations was 
held in Geneva, Switzerland. The outcome 
of this was the treaty of Geneva, known as the 
Red Cross Treaty. 

What in brief does the Red Cross Treaty 
provide? 

' That hospital formations and their per- 
sonnel should be treated as neutrals. That 
each nation signing the treaty should have an 
association of volunteers to assist and supple- 
ment the medical services of its army. But 
the emblem of service coming to all nations 
should be a cross of red on a field of white. 
This emblem, which is the Swiss flag with the 
colours reversed, was adopted in recognition 
of the fact that Dr. Dunant was Swiss and 
that the Red Cross was founded at Geneva. 

What is the Red Cross doing in France for 
the soldiers? 

192 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

There are two distinct phases of Red Cross 
rehef work for soldiers on duty. The oper- 
ating of rolling canteens and the maintaining 
of stationary canteens hack of the fighting 
line is one. It is a most daring yet essential 
work, this of operating rolling canteens. 
Often a soldier leaves the trench utterly ex- 
hausted. The rolling canteen goes right down 
to the communicating trenches, where the sol- 
diers passing in and out receive their quarts of 
steaming bouillon or coffee in winter, and cold 
drinks in summer. 

At junction points on the French railroads 
troops going on leave from the battle front 
often have to spend hours waiting for trains. 
Since there are probably not more than half 
a dozen important junctions and an average of 
20j000 men pass each one per day, only a small 
fraction of them could be accommodated. 
Formerly thousands had to sleep in the open, 
often in the rain. These men come from the 
fighting zone tired, hungry and infected. It 
is for such emergency that the stationary can- 

193 



HUNTING THE HUN 

teen is conducted. At the canteen the men 
can ohtain at cost price substantial hot meals 
that have been prepared by the ladies. They 
can have hot baths and get their clothes cleaned 
and sterilised, so that they take the train re- 
freshed in body and spirit. As the number of 
soldiers in France grows, the canteen will 
necessarily become a greater factor and will 
be most potent in maintaining the morale of 
our army. 

If you can't go to war, you can pay to al- 
leviate the sufferings of those who are fighting. 
I want you to take an imaginary journey over 
the battle front with me. 

We are now in the midst of the most fierce 
fighting of this great war. Think of the worst 
earthquakes and floods that would shock you 
at home, multiply the horror of your impres- 
sions a hundredfold, and you will come near 
to the horrors of the Marne. Multiply this a 
thousandfold and you have the ferocity of the 
battles of the Ancre and Somme. At the 

194 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

present time we are in the midst of the great 
big battle of the war. 

Think of the devastation by fire in France, 
where villages and woods and pasture lands 
are completely wiped out of existence. Not a 
house, church or tree is left standing where 
once there were thousands of families living 
in a condition as prosperous and happy as any- 
where in the world. Think of the ruins by 
floods and shell fire in Flanders, and think 
of the stench of thousands of carcases, human 
and animal, poisoning the atmosphere for 
miles around for those who must stay in the 
trenches. Then turn your mind to some great 
engagement and try to realise long trenches 
of men, writhing in torture from poisonous 
gas or liquid fire, of soldiers smashed and dis- 
figured by shell wounds, their lacerations as 
indescribable as their heroism is undaunted. 
If you think of these things, you will not re- 
fuse to pay your contributions to the Red 
Cross. For the Red Cross relieves this suf- 
fering. 

195 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Now leave the trenches, and retire behind 
the firing line with me. Here we are on roads 
that are lined with men on stretchers — some 
dead, scores mortally wounded, hundreds and 
hundreds of casualties in all states of collapse. 
The middle of the roadway is filled with dozens 
of ambulances after every action. There is 
perhaps a mile's length of hospital trains wait- 
ing in the siding to convey the wounded to base 
hospitals. 

And all this purgatory of pain is dependent 
for relief upon the skill of our doctors, the 
tenderness of our nurses, the efficiency of our 
equipment; all of which means is dependent 
upon the generosity of the public. 

May I not take it for granted that, just as 
the fighting manhood of the United States is 
soon to be with us in the trenches, so you of 
the Red Cross who have done so much for us 
in the past are now eager to be mobilised in the 
Allied Army of Mercy. I assume that your 
organisation is coming with us in increased 
numbers, and with increased equipment, if 

196 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

neeessary to the mountains above and around 
Salonika, to the Plains of Egypt, to East 
Africa, to the waterless waste of Mesopotamia, 
to France, Flanders, and Italy. 

I have left untouched all the work of caring 
for the homeless and starving population now 
being daily released from the bondage of over 
three years' servitude. It is, of course, for 
your great hearted public to decide whether 
and when and how they can best intervene in 
this area of human desolation. I can, how- 
ever, specify in detail a few of the objects in 
which your money can usefully be spent. We 
have base hospitals running into hundreds in 
France and England, advance base hospitals 
and special hospitals for convalescents, for 
cripples, or the blind, for face cases and homes 
for the permanently disabled. We have hos- 
pital ships on the English Channel, in the 
Mediterranean, on the Adriatic and on the 
Tigris. We have hospital trains in England, 
France and Egypt ; hundreds of motor ambu- 
lances in all our theatres of war, with repair 

197 



HUNTING THE HUN 

cars and other necessary equipment. There 
are thousands of doctors, nurses, orderlies, 
etc., to be clothed and fed. There are can- 
teens of Red Cross men, rest homes for nurses, 
worn out by hard work and ceaseless activity. 
We provide, of course, hospital clothing, 
drugs, dressings all in enormous quantities for 
equipment and reserve. These reserves are 
for ever being replenished at an ever rising 
price and cost. 

When a man is wounded the Red Cross is 
immediately with him. 

The stretcher bearer takes him from the 
front line trenches to the regimental aid post, 
where the battalion or medical officer is sta- 
tioned. The next step leads to the advanced 
dressing station. Sometimes during a battle 
this may be the Y. M. C. A. hut. At the ad- 
vanced dressing station he passes out of the 
hands of his regiment into the care of the 
R. A. M. C. (Royal Army Medical Corps). 
Here he may stay in a farm house, barn or a 
bomb-proof structure. 

198 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

From here he will be taken by an ambu- 
lance a few miles away to a field ambulance 
station. This station may be in huts or tents, 
and is probably receiving wounded from four 
or five dressing stations. After that the 
wounded man goes to the casualty clearing 
sta;tion and finally, if the case is bad enough, 
to the base hospital. When he is fit to move 
again, he will be placed on board ship and 
brought over to a hospital in England. As 
he slowly recovers he is taken out for pleasant 
drives, and everything is done to make his 
time in the hospital pass quickly. The atten- 
tion given by the Red Cross nurses is simply 
splendid and it is no wonder that the boys 
often sing the song, "I don't want to get well." 

A kind old lady was visiting one of the 
hospitals in England. She was shown 
through a ward, where a number of wounded 
soldiers were lying in bed. Being of an inquis- 
itive turn of mind, she asked one of the sol- 
diers how he felt. His reply to her was, "I 
am not so bad, Lydy." She then asked him 

199 



HUNTING THE HUN 

if he had accounted for many Germans, and 
his reply was: "I dunno, I did my best." 

She then went to the next cot and asked the 
soldier in it the same questions. His reply 
to her first question was : "I feel damn rotten.'' 
This did not appear to shock the old lady, as 
she had previously heard of some of this kind 
of soldierly language. However, she was 
not deterred, and asked him how many Ger- 
mans that he had accounted for. His reply 
was very startling. "When I was in my first 
attack, I was very savage, and all at once my 
pal. Bill, shouts out, 'Shike your bynet (bayo- 
net), Tom! Shike your bynet, Tom! You have 
got five of the Bleeders on.' " 

The old lady left the hospital highly de- 
lighted with the prowess of the cockney soldier. 

The Y. M. C. A. is doing wonderful work 
for the boys at the front. It not only looks 
after the spiritual, moral and physical welfare 
of the boys, but it also provides amusements 
and sports, moving pictures and good concerts 
in which the fair sex are represented by a few 

200 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

of the boys dressed up in very attractive and 
lady-like costumes. The reason boys are sub- 
stituted for the part of girls is due to the fact 
that no ladies are allowed to come within the 
danger zone. However, we try to fool our- 
selves into believing that these imitations are 
the real thing, and at a distance they certainly 
look it. But your illusion is quickly dispelled 
on a closer examination of their hands and feet, 
which are too large and muscular for pretty 
young girls. 

The Y. M. C. A. officials give good advice to 
the "boys" at all times. Here they are sup- 
plied with pen, ink and note paper to write 
home. In one particular Y. M. C. A. that I 
visited I noticed an inscription which read 
as follows: "Write home to Mother to-day. 
She is anxiously awaiting your letter." 

The officials of the Y. M. C. A. have not 
always what we call a "bomb-proof job"; that 
is to say, one that is immune from shell fire. 
In the town of BuUy-Grenay, a distance of 
four and one half miles from Lens, the Y. M. 

201 



HUNTING THE HUN 

C. A. officials occupy a house in which they 
have a club for officers. A short distance from 
it they have two large camouflaged tents for 
the boys. The Boche very often shells this 
town, and the inhabitants who still persist in re- 
maining there, together with the Y. M. C. A. 
staff, are in constant danger. One day a shell 
exploded in the garden of the Y. M. C. A. 
Officers' Club. It broke every window in the 
building near by, and a large piece of the shell 
is hung over their counter as a memento of the 
occasion. 

It was in this town Captain Campbell, our 
quartermaster, and his batman were killed by 
a German H. E. shell (high explosive) . Cap- 
tain Campbell was quietly eating his dinner 
in a room of his billet, quite close to the 
Y. M. C. A. 

There is a town called Lievin about two 
miles from Lens, which, previous to the war, 
had a population of over twenty-two thousand 
inhabitants. It was taken by the Germans 
who held it until the month of April, 1917. 

202 



THE RED CROSS AND THE Y. M. C. A. 

We recaptured it from them at that time. 
Nothing remains of Lievin at the present time 
but a few bare walls here and there to show 
that a town existed at one time. In the middle 
of one of the streets we had a support trench. 
In the basement of a large building, close to a 
corner which we called "Whizz Bang Corner," 
on account of the number of shells that the 
Huns fired in this locality, was the entrance 
to the Y. M. C. A. hut. 

This particular Y. M. C. A. had been used 
as a regimental aid post for the wounded. 
We had several batteries of our artillery in 
Lievin, so it is needless to say that strafing 
was going on continually between them and 
the enemy. 

Under the circumstances you will see that it 
is unjust to think that the Y. M. C. A. secre-. 
taries hold down "bomb-proof jobs." 



CHAPTER X 

SOME TRENCH SONGS 

When the singing soldiers of the First 
British Expeditionary Force marched to the 
slaughter at Mons in the fall of 1914 singing 
" Tipper ary," they established a precedent 
which the troops from all parts of the British 
Empire have maintained. The Canadians 
were quick to learn the value of songs to fight- 
ing men, and some of the many they have given 
voice to in Flanders are here set down. Most 
of the parodies were acquired from that 
redoubtable soldier, Tommy Atkins. Some 
of them are the invention of Canadian soldier- 
minstrels. 

When the first Canadian division landed in 
France they marched to Armentieres singing, 
to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia"; 

204 



SOME TRENCH SONGS 

*'Hurrah, hurrah, we'll get you, Kaiser Bill; 
Hurrah, hurrah, your cup of joy we'll spill; 
The day that you have toasted will be hell let loose 

when we 
All go marching through Germany.'* 

Moving west from Fleurbaix to Ypres they 
sang to the air of "Good-Bye, My Bluebell," 
as they marched: — 

*'Good-bye, old Germany, farewell to you, 
You'll have no Kaiser when the war is through. 
You'll have no army, no shot and shell. 
Good-bye, old Germany — and go to " 

There they switched — ^to please the padre — 
and chorused gleefully: — 

*'You're in the army now, 
You're in the army now, 
You son of a gun, you'll never be done, 
You're in the army now." 

What happened to the first Canadian divi- 
sion at Ypres during the two weeks following 
the first gas attack made by the Germans 
(April 15-22) is an old, and glorious story in 
the annals of Canadian bravery. The High- 

205 



HUNTING THE HUN 

land brigade went into the blood-drenched 
salient to the lilt of: — 

"Sing a song of bonny Scotland." 

They sang little during the slaughter-preg- 
nant, fight-full days and nights which followed ; 
but at the first halt following their departure 
from that section of the line (May 5-15), one 
brave heart sang: — 

(Air — Sing Me to Sleep.) 

*'Far, far from Ypres, I want to be. 
Where German snipers cannot get me; 
Think of me crouching, where the shells shriek, 
Praying for sergeant to sing me to sleep." 

During the fierce fighting at Festubert, 
towards the end of that month, they had 
learned the trench classic: — 

(Sung mock seriously.) 

"1 want to go home, I want to go home. 
The bullets they rattle, the cannon they roar, 
I don't want to go up any more. 
Take me over the seas. 
Where the Alleman' cannot get me. 
Oh, my, I don't want to die, 
I want to go Home." 

206 



SOME TRENCH SONGS 

About that time they realised that there was 
little good in the jam issued to the troops in 
the field, so they joined in with the soldiers of 
the Imperial Army when those cheery fellows 
sang: — 

"Tickler's Jam, Tickler's Jam, 
How I love old Tickler's Jam; 
Sent from England in one pound pots, 
r*acked it is in ten ton lots ; 
Every night when I'm asleep, 
I'm dreaming that I am 
Forcing my way through the Dardanelles, 
With a pot of Tickler's Jam." 

Next month they dared to carol (from the 
"Duck's Bill" salient at Givenchy) with 
"Fritz" only forty yards away: — 

(Air— Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy.)' 

"Keep your head down, AUeman'; keep your head 

down, AUeman', 
Last night in the pale moonlight, I saw you, I saw 

you ; 
You were fixing up your barbed wire, when we opened 

up rapid fire; 
If you ever want to see your dear Germany, keep 

your head down, you Alleman'." 

207 



HUNTING THE HUN 

The first brigade of the first division got 
badly mauled there. One battalion has been 
reported as singing the Canadian National 
Anthem while waiting to go "over the top.'* 
What they did sing was a song which has the 
singer bewaUing that there is "No booze to- 
day." 

After the fighting of April-May- June, 1915, 
the Canucks were moved to a fairly quiet sec- 
tion of the line. Old Ploegstreet Woods have 
oft re-echoed to the songs they sang there. 
One of them is still untruthfully sung. It has 
a mournful refrain, and these are the words 
of the ditty r — 

"If the Sergeant steals your rum, never mind; 

If the Sergeant steals your rum, NEVER MIND; 

(loudly wailed) 
He's had a son of a gun of a time, since they chased 

him up the line. 
If the Sergeant steals your rum, NEVER MIND. 

(With great feeling and a well simulated air of 

resignation. ) 

Songs the folks were singing back home be- 
gan to come to the boys in the trenches about 

208 



SOME TRENCH SONGS 

that time, and for a while it seemed that the 
days of the trench song proper had ahnost 
departed. There was one faint-hearted at- 
tempt at rhythm ahout the insect pests, and 
another to immortalise the "Minnie" (Minnen- 
werfer shell, trench mortar, noiseless in flight, 
and very destructive), but the minstrel boys 
came into their own again when the new and 
old divisions went back again to Ypres. 
"Blighty" (a word derived from the Hindu- 
stani, and having a wide meaning covering 
wounds, hospitals, home, and Paradise) was 
much in the mouths of the Canucks, so they 
sang: — 

"Blighty, in dear old Blighty, fair land across the 

foam. 
Some people call it England, some people call it 

home, 
But we just call it Blighty, dear land across the sea, 
Where Kaiser William hopes some day his hymn of 

Hate he'll hve to play, 
In Blighty, so dear to me." 

At the Somme a year ago they had a rollick- 
ing song to the air of "Chesapeake Bay," 

209 



HUNTING THE HUN 

wherein they told of hunting Fritz to the Hin- 
denberg line, and they still find time to warble 
parodies and limericks such as : 

*'There was a young lady of 'Wipers,' 
!Who was awfully fond of the pipers. 
At the very first sound, 
She would follow them round, 
In spite of the shells and the snipers." 

And: 

**Sing a song of five francs, Tonuny feeling dry. 
Four and twenty *Kamerads' standing all close by; 
When the place was opened. Tommy shouts *Hooray,' 
Up comes an M. P.,* and orders them away.'* 

Another typical song the British troops sang 
was: 

**Standing in the trenches on a cold winter's night, 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 
Wiring party working and we darn't show a light, 

Aw G»wblimey, ain't it cold? 

Pity the poor old soldier. 

Pity the poor young soldier. 

Pity the poor old soldier. 

Standing in the rain and the cold. 

♦M.P.— Military Police. 

210 



SOME TRENCH SONGS 

Going reconnoit'ring' on a cold winter's night. 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 
When we meet with Fritzy then there'll be a fight. 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 

Pity the poor old soldier, 

Pity the poor young soldier, 

Pity the poor old soldier. 

Standing in the rain and the cold. 

Burying stiff 'uns on a cold winter's night, 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 
When the big 'un hit 'em, don't they look a sight, 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 

Pity the poor old soldier, 

Pity the poor young soldier 

Pity the poor old soldier. 

Standing in the rain and the cold. 

Going back to Blighty on a cold winter's night. 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 
When we get to Blighty, then we'll be all right. 

Aw Gawblimey, ain't it cold? 

Pity the poor old soldier. 

Pity the poor young soldier. 

Pity the poor old soldier. 

Standing in the rain and the cold." 

The popularity of "My Little Grey Home 
in the West" brought to birth a dismal parody 
entitled "My Little Wet Home in the 
Trench," and many other popular songs have 

211 



HUNTING THE HUN 

had striking parodies composed on them by 
the singing Britishers in Flanders. 

Those songs have saved many a man from 
nervous exhaustion, they have cheered the 
wounded, they have been heard by the dying 
wherever the British Army has grappled the 
foe, and they have inspired the mildest man- 
nered man with courage abnormal. 

Who would not go "over the top" with men 
who could sing **I Want to Go Home" as 
they crouched for the charge across No Man's 
Land. Who would not fight like knights of 
old when comrades could sing in face of the 
foe, "Keep your head down, Alleman*." 

America's sons in Flanders will fight all the 
better when they learn the songs which Brit- 
ain's sons have sung from Ypres to Gallipoli, 
in Macedonia and Mesopotamia, India and 
Egypt; on sinking transports at sea, and in 
shell-torn trenches on land. 

He who sings well will fight well. Perhaps 
the songs of Uncle Sam's soldiers will be most 

212 



SOME TRENCK SONGS 

heard of when the Allies make their final drive, 
but the simple songs and parodies of the 
British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand 
and South African soldier have re-echoed 
round the world since *' Tipper ary" took fear- 
less men to heroes' graves in 1914. 



CHAPTER XI 

BITS OF WAR 

One of the bravest officers I ever met is the 
hero of the following story. He was in the 
front line trenches for the first time, and was 
very eager to go "over the top." He devoured 
every story told by the officers in the dugout 
of their prowess in fighting the Hun. We could 
all see in his cherubic countenance that he 
believed everything he was told. 

The dugout was rather cramped for space 
and not at all comfortable, so that when one 
of the Junior Subs asked him if he would like 
to take a walk, he readily assented. The hour 
was about midnight, and the Junior Sub in- 
formed him that as soon as he made arrange- 
ments with his N.C.O. they would take the 
desired walk. Arrangements having been 

214 



BITS OF WAR 

made, our "hero" was informed that all was 
in readiness, and the little party set out. 

Imagine the amazement of Lieutenant F. 
when the Junior Sub and the N.C.O. climbed 
out of the front line trench into No Man's 
Land. Our "hero" whispered these words: 
"Where are you going? I thought you were 
going for a walk?" "So we are," replied the 
Junior Sub. "We are going to take a walk to 
Fritz's barbed-wire entanglements. Are you 
afraid to come?" The reply was, "No, but I 
am just a little disappointed. I thought when 
you asked me to take a walk that you were 
going back towards the support line. How- 
ever, I am not afraid." 

He then immediately climbed out, and in 
his hurry fell into a shell hole just outside of 
our barbed-wire entanglements. As he fell, he 
shouted, and with the shout up went some Ger- 
man flares that illuminated their sector of No 
Man's Land. Before the flares died out, the 
machine guns of Fritz began to search out 
the spot. Our hero had sense enough to keep 

215 



HUNTING THE HUN 

in a shell hole and, after the lights had died 
down, he heard the voice of the N.C.O. who 
had crawled on his stomach to the lip of the 
shell hole, asking him if he had lost anything. 
He afterwards told me that if he had answered 
truthfully he would have said "Yes," as his 
nerve had played him false. 

However, he replied, "No, I have not lost 
anything, but I have found something." 

He had by then regained his courage, so he 
moved like a veteran towards the German wire 
entanglements. Having accomplished their 
mission, they returned to our trenches, the 
Junior Sub and the N.C.O. leading. As they 
disappeared into the trench, our hero had just 
got to the shell hole where he had fallen in 
previously. In his haste to reach the trench, 
he was caught on the entanglements by one 
leg, with the result that he was thrown to the 
ground. 

Again he shouted, but this brought a quick 
reply from the Huns. The flares were sent up 
and then began a fusilade of machine-gun fire 

216 



BITS OF WAR 

at our luckless hero, with the result that the 
baggy part of his breeches was riddled with 
bullets. But, strange to say, he himself did 
not receive a scratch. 

Eventually he reached the dugout just as 
a drink was being served to the Junior Sub. 
Lieutenant F. was asked if he would like a 
drink, and his reply was, "Certainly I will have 
one, thank you." As the drink was handed over 
to him we noticed that he was perspiring very 
freely. And as he reached over to take it, we 
all saw that his hand was shaking like a man 
with the palsy. One of the officers asked him 
if he was scared. He replied, "You are damned 
right I*m scared. See what Fritz has done to 
my breeches!" 

During the attack on Vimy Ridge, Number 
One Platoon, under the command of Lieuten- 
ant Clements, who afterwards received the 
Military Cross for his good work in connection 
with this attack, was detailed to capture the 
Volker Tunnel. His men were supplied with 
electric flashlights, and, in order to distinguish 

217 



HUNTING THE HUN 

them from the other platoons, they all wore 
white armlets above their elbows. Their spe- 
cial work was solely to capture the tumiel and 
to cut aU the electric wires, as we suspected 
that mines had been laid under the various Ger- 
man trenches. 

The moment our barrage had lifted from the 
German front line trench. Lieutenant C. and 
his men fought their way through this tunnel. 
In the tunnel he surprised a German officer who 
was fast asleep. How this officer could have 
slept through the noise of our barrage was a 
mystery. We presumed that he must have 
been intoxicated, or that he had become so 
accustomed to our usual strafing of their 
trenches that he did not pay any attention. 

Lieutenant C. aroused him out of his sleep by 
shining his flashlight upon his face. The Ger- 
man officer appeared very much astonished, 
and informed us, through one of our men who 
could speak German, that they had been ex- 
pecting us to attack on the first of April, and 
as we had not attacked on that date, they 

218 



BITS OF WAR 

thought that we would not attack until the 
15th. He also stated that two regiments of 
German infantry had been sent up to their 
support lines to be ready for what they thought 
our attack on the 15th of April. 

At the point of a pistol that was held by 
a very determined officer, it did not require 
much persuasion to make the Hun officer dis- 
close where the wires were attached to the 
mines that would have blown us to "Kingdom 
Come," although the Germans had evidently 
thought Vimy Ridge was impregnable. Never- 
theless, they had prepared for aU eventualities. 

I visited this tunnel on April 10th, and as 
I descended, helped by the constant aid of 
my flashlight, I came to the nice little, well- 
furnished room in which the German officer 
had been surprised. It was forty feet under- 
ground. 

I followed a passageway about ten feet 
broad and seven feet high. Every few yards 
I had to pass over the bodies of dead Ger- 
mans. There had been fierce hand-to-hand 

219 



HUNTING THE HUN 

fighting. Our boys had certainly used their 
bayonets with good effect. Some prisoners 
had been taken and, strange to say, one of the 
prisoners had Hved in Montreal and had been 
engaged as a waiter at one of the large hotels. 
He could speak excellent English, and he in- 
formed one of the boys that there were several 
of his fellow soldiers who had been engaged 
as waiters in New York and Chicago. But 
these had all been killed in the tunnel. 

As I advanced along the tunnel it became 
wider and on both sides were two tiers of 
bunks. Many of these contained the bodies 
of dead Germans which were placed there in 
order to make the passageway less congested. 
Later on these bodies were taken out and rev- 
erently interred. 

I slept for about two hours that night in 
one of the lower bunks. In the upper tier 
above me was the body of a dead German. 

The Germans had built this tunnel with two 
objects in mind: first, to enable them to bring 
forward reinforcements from the Zwischen 

220 



BITS OF WAR 

SteUung trench to their front line, which was 
a distance of 560 yards, without exposing them 
to our observation and artillery fire and, sec- 
ondly, that they could also withdraw their men 
from the front and support trenches without 
suffering any casualties. 

The Germans had made every arrangement 
with a view to the comfort of both their offi- 
cers and men. Electric light had been gen- 
erated from Vimy Village. The tunnel could 
shelter comfortably one battalion. Ventilation 
shafts ran up from it to the surface, and there 
were chambers or rooms off the main passage- 
way to serve the purposes of a garrison that 
might be isolated. Commander's post, tele- 
phones, temporary hospital, baths with hot and 
cold water installation, and depots for ammu- 
nition and food were here. 

It can readily be seen that the Germans 
expected to remain on tho spot, but our New 
World troops upset their calculations. 

One day on the Western front there was a 
duel in the air. It looked as if the old days 

221 



HUNTING THE HUN 

were to come back again, when the armies 
would cease fighting and watch their respective 
champions in single combat. This fight re- 
sulted in the death of Immelman, at that time 
Germany's most distinguished aviator. 

It was in truth a duel, no chance meeting 
of men determined to slay one another, but a 
battle following a regular challenge and fought 
by prearrangement and without interference 
from either side. This air battle was witnessed 
with the deepest interest by the men of both 
armies who were crouched in the trenches and 
separated only by a few yards at No Man's 
Land. The fire of the anti-aircraft gun on 
both sides was stilled. Captain Ball, the youth- 
ful English pilot who was recently killed after 
a series of winning battles in the air, was the 
victor. The story of the duel, which was one 
of the most sensational events of the war, was 
told in a letter written to me by a friend of 
mjne who was one of the eye witnesses of the 
fight. 

One morning Captain Ball, who was be- 
222 



BITS OF WAR 

hind our sector, heard that Immehnan was 
opposite. "This is the chance I have been 
waiting for. I am going to get him," de- 
clared Ball. His friends tried to dissuade him 
by saying the story of Immelman's presence 
probably was untrue. Ball would not listen. 
Getting into his machine, he flew over the 
German lines and dropped a note, which read : 

"Captain Immelman: 

*'I challenge you to a man-to-man fight 
to take place this afternoon at two o'clock. I 
will meet you over the German lines. Have 
your anti-aircraft guns withhold their fire while 
we decide which is the better man. The British 
guns will be silent. 

"(Signed) BaU." 

About an hour afterwards a German airman 
swung out across our hnes and dropped Im- 
melman's answer: 

"Captain Ball: 

"Your challenge is accepted. The Gierman 
223 



HUNTING THE HUN 

guns will not interfere. I will meet you 
promptly at two. 

' ' ( Signed ) Inmielman." 

Just a few minutes before two, the guns on 
both sides ceased firing. It was as though the 
commanding officers had ordered a truce. Long 
rows of heads popped up and all eyes watched 
Captain Ball from behind the British lines go 
off into the aii*. A minute or two later Immel- 
man's machine was also seen in the air. 

The machines ascended in a wide circle. 
There were wild cheers on both sides, each for 
the respective champion. Captain Ball, thou- 
sands of feet above us and only a speck in the 
sky, was doing the craziest things imaginable. 
Our soldiers' cheers turned to cries of dismay. 
Ball was below Immelman and was apparently 
making no effort to get above him and thus 
gaining the advantage of position. On the 
contrary he was carelessly swinging around 
this way and that, attempting, it seemed, to 
postpone the inevitable. 

224 



BITS OF WAR 

We saw the German's machine dip over 
preparatory to starting a nose dive. "O Lord, 
he's gone now," cried a young soldier at my 
side, for he knew Immehnan's gun would start 
its raking fire once it was being driven straight 
down. 

Then, in less time than it takes to tell, the 
tables were turned. Before Immehnan's plane 
could get into firing position, Captain Ball 
drove his machine into a loop. Getting above 
his adversary and cutting loose with his gun, 
he smashed Immelman by a hail of bullets as 
he swept by. Immehnan's aeroplane burst 
into flames and dropped. Ball, from above, 
followed for a few hundred feet and then 
straightened out and raced for home. He 
settled down, rose again, and hurried back to 
release a huge wreath of flowers almost direct- 
ly over the spot where Immehnan's charred 
body was being hfted from a tangled mass of 
metal. 

Four days later Captain Ball was killed. He 
attacked, single-handed, four Germans. One 

225 



HUNTING THE HUN 

he had shot down. As he pursued the other 
three two machines dropped from behind the 
clouds and closed in on him. He was pocketed 
and killed, but not until he had shot down two 
more of the enemy. 

You can never judge his ability as a fighter 
from a man's appearance. Private Davis was 
a runner, about 26 years of age, attached to 
my company headquarters. He was a small 
and unassuming man, very neat in his appear- 
ance and always spick and span, even in the 
trenches. His companions often wondered 
how he could manage to keep himself so clean 
and tidy. 

One night Davis, being near company head- 
quarters, overheard the officers discussing an 
intended raid on a German machine-gun em- 
placement, which we thought was a short dis- 
tance in front of the German trenches. This 
machine gun had caused quite a number of 
casualties in our company, so this raid was 
made with the object of finding and destroying 
it. Davis begged very hard to be allowed to 

226 



BITS OF WAR 

go with a patrol party that was being sent out, 
so the company commander gave his assent. 

That night Davis was out in No Man's Land 
on patrol duty, the patrol consisting of four 
men under one N.C.O. Later on the patrol 
came back without having seen anything of the 
enemy in No Man's Land, but Private Davis 
was reported missing by the sergeant. About 
an hour after the return of the patrol, one of 
the officers who was on duty at the time was 
called by a sentry who had heard the whistle 
that had been prearranged for the patrol 
party's signal as they approached our barbed- 
wire entanglements. 

There in front of our wire were several Ger- 
mans, with their hands up. All the boys on 
the fire step had their rifles to their shoulders 
in an instant. Then we heard a shout, *'I have 
got six Heinies, don't shoot." 

It was Davis. I got out of the trench and 
showed the way through the barbed wire to the 
Huns, who looked scared to death. There was 

227 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Davis behind the Boches, with a Mills bomb 
and pistol in his hands. 

He told me that he had got lost. He had 
then prowled around and surprised this ma- 
chine-gun squad, who were outside a concrete 
machine gun emplacement. 

I asked Davis how he had managed to cap- 
ture these men and he told me it was quite 
easy. "I just put the fear of God into them 
with my Mills bomb and made them walk in 
front of me." As he could speak a little Ger- 
man, he told them that at the least noise they 
made he would blow them to pieces. After 
that it was a cinch, as he expressed himself. 

Davis was very much surprised when he was 
recommended and received the Distinguished 
Conduct Medal for this good piece of work. 
His one regret seemed to be that he was un- 
able to place the machine gun hors de combat. 
He declared that the reason for this was that 
his prisoners were not gentlemen, and he, 
therefore, could not trust them to stand quietly 

228 



' BITS OF WAR 

by while he was destroying one of the Kaiser's 
machine guns. 

Many people have had things to say of the 
French Canadians in Canada and their rea- 
sons for not having enlisted more freely. I 
wish to set down what I observed of the 22nd 
French Canadian Battalion, which is the only 
complete French Canadian battalion at the 
front, although there are quite a number of 
French Canadians mixed among the English- 
speaking battalions. 

The 22nd French Canadian Battalion was 
absolutely fearless, coming second to none for 
their bravery. A few days after the Canadians 
had captured Vimy Ridge, the 22nd Battalion 
was detailed to take up its position in the front 
line of our brigade frontage, my battalion 
being in support at that time. Both of these 
trenches had been captured from the Germans. 
The 22nd battalion sector of the line at that 
particular time was named the "Observation 
Trench.'* It ran in a serpentine manner down 
the eastern slope of the Ridge. The Ridge at 

229 



HUNTING THE HUN 

this point dropped abruptly, and the trench 
was dug through chalk. The Germans must 
have worked very hard to dig it. Along the 
sides were quite a number of very deep dug- 
outs. At about 7:30 P.M., just as it was 
commencing to get dark, we saw on the crest 
of the Ridge the 22nd ahead of us. The Huns 
were at that time about one mile away. Their 
artillery was still further back, yet with their 
powerful glasses they could see very well, and 
they must have seen the 22nd, because there 
immediately began a rain of shrapnel over 
them as they were going down the slope of the 
Ridge in single file. It took some time for 
the last of the boys to get under cover. 

We could not help but admire them as 
they moved along, as cool as if on parade. 
None of them showed the least sign of fear or 
nervousness, although shells were dropping 
and bursting all around them. It was with 
a sigh of rehef that we saw the last man go 
over the crest and get under cover of the 

230 



BITS OF WAR 

trench. We were always sure of the 22n(i's 
doing the right thing at the right time. 

Another time they were occupying a sector 
of the front line not far from Loos. An 
English battalion, which had previously occu- 
pied this sector of the line, informed us that 
there was a rumour to the effect that a part 
of the trench we were occupying had been 
mined by the Germans. This information was 
far from pleasant, as one does not relish the 
idea of being blown skywards. The relieving 
troops are given all useful information con- 
cerning enemy movements, etc., hence this mine 
story. 

As we were "standing to" about an hour be- 
fore dawn we heard a hissing sound, then a 
roar, and the earth seemed to tremble. All at 
once the ground opened and earth and debris 
of all descriptions went flying through the air. 
The Huns had exploded the mine, but, fortu- 
nately for us, they had miscalculated the dis- 
tance. About one minute after, a barrage was 
laid by the Germans on our support lines. 

231 



HUNTING THE HUN 

They had evidently thought that they had 
blown up our front line sector and us along 
with it. 

The mine had actually exploded a few yards 
in front of the 22nd French Canadian Bat- 
talion. The Huns followed on some distance 
back of their barrage and advanced in columns 
of fours to the sector occupied by the French 
Canadians. The leading sections of the Ger- 
mans were protected by armour plate over 
their bodies. As they advanced they were fir- 
ing their rifles from their hips. The French 
Canadians stood fast, and at once began a 
rapid machine-gun and rifle fire, which caused 
the Huns to retire at a terrible cost. Our 
barrage also had begun to play, both on their 
artillery and the advancing troops. 

Great praise is due the 22nd Battalion for 
the manner in which they withstood the Huns. 
I wish we had in France more French Cana- 
dian troops from the Province of Quebec of 
the same calibre. Their officers are absolutely 
fearless, and they have one of the highest rec- 

232 



BITS OF WAR 

ords of efficiency, which can be judged by the 
distinction conferred on them. They were 
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Tremblay, 
D.S.O. and Legion of Honour. Some of the 
senior ofHcers were Major Debuc, Major 
Chasse, Major John Roy. All of the fore- 
going have been decorated by the King with 
the D.S.O. and Military Cross, and by the 
French Army with the Legion of Honour. 
Major John Roy, during the attack on Lens, 
August 15th, 1917, was in charge of a com- 
pany when all his junior officers were either 
killed or wounded. He, with a mere handful 
of men, held a sector of the front line under 
a heavy bombardment from the Boche, which 
continued for two days and nights. I was in 
the same attack, and in one day alone we re- 
pulsed four counter-attacks. 

On my return to Canada I was surprised 
at the people that do not seem to reaHse how 
much the 22nd Battalion is thought of by the 
fighting men in France. Any child who has 
a father, any mother who has a son, or any 

233 



HUNTING THE HUN 

person who has a relative in the 22nd French 
Canadian Battalion should be very proud of it. 

The French Canadian is patriotic without 
doubt. But they are so very clannish on ac- 
count of their language, many being unable to 
speak English, that, when volunteers were 
called for by Canada, their proportion of enlist- 
ment was small in comparison with the English- 
speaking Canadian. A few leaders who could 
talk well started a propaganda against enlist- 
ment, probably for their own personal reasons. 
These leaders quickly had a great number of 
followers. But, my personal opinion is, that 
the war situation had not been presented to the 
majority of the French Canadians ere these 
propagandists got in their villainous work. 

One night, as we were "standing to" in the 
front line, the usual whistle of the shells as 
they passed above us could be plainly heard. I 
noticed a soldier advancing along my left 
flank. As he reached the place where I was 
standing on the fire step I recognised him as 
Private Wagner. 

234 



BITS OF WAR 

He was about to pass me. I stopped and 
asked him where he was going. His reply was, 
"Sir, I am going over to the right to get my 
entrenching tool. I left it in a funk hole this 
afternoon and came away and forgot it." He 
then saluted and smiled as he was doing so. 
Somehow or other I did not like the way he 
smiled. But I had no reason to doubt his 
words. Although it was strictly against orders 
to allow anyone to leave the fire step at "stand 
to," Wagner was personally known to me, so 
I let him go. 

My mind went back to the time I first met 
him, five years ago. We were both living at 
the same hotel in Montreal. Wagner was sup- 
posed to be an Englishman, and at that time 
he was a draughtsman in the employ of a 
large bridge company. It was said that he 
was one of the finest draughtsmen in Canada 
on bridge construction work, and he appeared 
to have a thorough knowledge of the whole 
of the country, as he had worked for various 
companies throughout Canada. Wagner mixed 

235 



HUNTING THE HUN 

with the best of society in Montreal, but it 
was remarked that before the war his best 
friends appeared to be connected with the 
Hamburg- American Steamship Line. When 
war was declared he was the first man to dis- 
claim any friendship existing between himself 
and anyone with a German name. No one 
appeared to hate the Germans more than he 
did, neither was there anyone more keen to 
enlist. But the medical examinations at the 
early stages of the war were so strict that he 
was rejected by the medical boards. 

Wagner and I were often seated together 
at the same table, and, as he had travelled ex- 
tensively, he was a very interesting and enter- 
taining man, so we became very friendly. 

Later on, when I received my commission 
he seemed to profess more friendship for me 
than ever before. His knowledge of miUtary 
engineering and signalHng interested me very 
much. He was also a clever linguist, speaking 
several languages fluently. 

Being on leave one week-end from camp, I 
236 



BITS OF WAR 

went into the dining-room of my hotel in Mon- 
treal to take lunch; and who should I see but 
Wagner. He was seated at the table in the 
same old place. I noticed he was in uniform. 
As I entered the dining-room he rose from his 
seat. I told him to sit down. He then told 
me he had just been passed by the medical 
board, as the soldiers' standard had been low- 
ered. He appeared to be very pleased at hav- 
ing got through, and he said he hoped that 
it would not be long until he would be with 
the boys "Over There." 

Just then a lady came into the dining-room. 
She was a German whom we both knew, mar- 
ried to a Canadian. As she passed us to get 
to her dining table, he said to me, "How I 
hate those Germans ! The authorities ought to 
intern them all. If I had my way I would 
shoot them all, as I would any enemy of ours.'^ 
He put great emphasis on the word "ours" 
and his eyes glared malevolently. Although 
I attached no importance to this little incident 
at that time, it now came back to my memory^ 

237. 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Wagner quickly recovered from his ugly mood 
and asked me when I thought some of the 
troops would be sailing. I told him I did not 
know as we were not given any information 
with regard to the sailing of our troops. After 
this I lost track of Wagner until I arrived at 
my reserve battalion in England. 

One day I happened to be going to the 
battalion orderly room, and who should be on 
sentry duty, much to my surprise, but Wag- 
ner. He saluted me. I returned his salute. 
After saying a few formal words, I passed 
into the orderly room. The adjutant said to 
me, during the course of our conversation, that 
he had a man whom he would like to promote 
for the time he would be at the training depot. 
I asked him the man's name and he told me 
it was Wagner. I then informed the adjutant 
that I had known Wagner for some years in 
Montreal and that in my opinion he would be 
a well-qualified man to make a non-commis- 
sioned officer. 

That night about nine o'clock there was a 
238 



BITS OF WAR 

knock at my hut door. I opened it and saw a 
sergeant with a man. The sergeant said, "Sir, 
Private Wagner would hke to speak to 
you." I told the sergeant that he could go and 
that I would speak to Private Wagner alone. 
Wagner informed me that he was, to use the 
slang expression, "fed up" with camp life 
and that he wanted to get over to France with 
the first draft. He begged of me to see that 
his name was placed on the list. This I did 
for him and later on he left the reserve bat- 
talion two months before I reached France. 

When I reached my fighting unit in France 
I was very much surprised to see Wagner 
working in the battalion orderly room. He 
seemed surprised and also pleased to meet me, 
and asked me if I would have him transferred 
to my platoon, which I did. 

He told me if at any time I had to draw 
a cross section of a map, which is often done 
by us when we intend attackiag a German 
position, he would be pleased to do it for me. 
Although I knew he could make an excellent 

239 



HUNTING THE HUN 

sketch, I thought it would not be a wise thing 
to allow any of the men under me to know too 
much of our plans in case they should be 
taken prisoners by the Germans. 

As I pondered over the past history of what 
I knew of this man, it all came vividly back 
to my mind. His smile as he saluted and passed 
along to the right to get his entrenching tool 
and the manner that he had said "enemy of 
ours" in the dining-room in Montreal. Sud- 
denly on our right flank the Germans began 
to send up some red rockets and then a few 
golden sprays. Word was passed along to 
send up our S. O. S. I asked who had sent 
the message. The man to my right said he 
did not know. I then jumped out of the 
trench and walked along the parados. I found 
that fi\e men from my right had received this 
message and the sixth man was Wagner, and 
the man next to him did not know anything 
about it. We act quickly at the front; we take 
no chances. I interrogated Wagner, but he dis- 
claimed any knowledge of the message. 

240 



BITS OF WAR 

I was not satisfied with this answer. Al- 
though I had known him so long, the various 
little incidents which had transpired during 
our association now firmly convinced me that 
he was a German. I immediately placed him 
under arrest with a strong guard over him, al- 
though I may say that I felt like killing him 
on the spot. 

If we had sent up our S. O^ S. signal our ar- 
tillery would have placed an intense bombard- 
ment on the German trenches along our sec- 
tor of the line. While our artillery were 
busy sheUing in this locality, the Germans 
would have attacked another point, where 
they would have encountered less opposition 
of artillery and in all probability broken 
through our line. It was a well-arranged 
scheme; but it failed, thank God. 

As soon as we stood down I had Wagner 
brought to my company commander. I made 
out a written report, detailing the whole cir- 
cumstances of the affair. Wagner was 
searched and in the heel of a boot that he 

241 



HUNTING THE HUN 

was wearing was found some very thin tissue 
paper, neatly folded. It did not appear to 
have any writing on it, but as we laid the paper 
on a small box in the company headquarters 
dugout, a candle was burning brightly, so we 
held it close to the light. We could make out 
a drawing of our trench. Apparently invisible 
ink had been used. As we continued to hold 
the paper before the candle, German writing 
gradually came to view. 

Judging from the expression on Wagner's 
face you would not have thought that his life 
was at stake. He appeared to be quite re- 
signed to the fate that awaited him. 

It is customary for the army to have carrier 
pigeons. The pigeons are kept at certain 
points some distance in the back area of the 
trenches, where they are kept in large cotes 
until required by any particular unit. It some- 
times happens that a company comimander 
may require two pigeons to take with him 
into the trenches in order to send messages 
back to the rear. The message is fastened to 

242 



BITS OF WAR 

the leg of the pigeon, and when the pigeon 
arrives at the cotes the message is taken off its 
leg and handed over to the signallers, who 
transmit the message to the proper authorities 
by wire or motor despatch riders. 

One man was allotted to carry the pigeons 
in a small wooden box. This man was always 
Wagner. He professed to love birds and had 
taken a course to train pigeons. Whenever 
our battalion was out at rest, if in a town, 
Wagner was sure to be away after drill hours. 
Seldom was he seen at the Y. M. C. A., nor 
did he ever appear to write any letters. We 
discovered that he had confederates in some 
of these little villages where he procured 
German pigeons, and, no doubt, by some 
means he exchanged these pigeons and sent 
important messages occasionally to the 
enemy. 

No doubt Wagner had warned the Huns 
when they were massing in the sunken road 
that we were aware of it and were prepared 
to surprise them. 

245 



HUNTING THE HUN 

Wagner was sent out of the line under es- 
cort. As he passed me he gave a very malevo- 
lent stare. He was duly shot at sunrise. An- 
other crafty Hun paid the penalty of his 
treachery. 



CHAPTER XII 

TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

Whilst we were practicing going over the 
tapes at Masnil Bouche for the attack on 
Vimy Ridge, we noticed that after we had 
finished our practice an Imperial battalion 
would follow on after us. It was rumoured 
that it was a London County battalion. We 
never had any chance to speak to any of the 
officers or men, so we nicknamed them the 
"Silent Battalion." Later on, when we had 
consolidated our positions after the attack, this 
battalion went over our heads and secured a 
position somewhere in front of us. We could 
see by the way that they went about their 
work that they were very efficient. On the 
morning of the attack I met the battalion 
sergeant major of this battalion in the Zwis- 
chen Stellung trench. He was then leading 

247 



HUNTING THE HUN 

a platoon. He informed me that the platoon 
officer had been killed and that he was placed 
in charge of this platoon. Later on I was in- 
formed that this sergeant major was also 
killed just as he reached his final objective. 

You never hear much of the English bat- 
talions nor of their doings at the front, but 
from my own personal experiences of the Im- 
perial battalion every Canadian soldier feels 
like taking off his hat to the British Tommy. 
He is ever cheerful under all circumstances, 
and the wit of the cockney soldier is something 
to remember. One incident that was brought 
to my mind of the bravery of the British Im- 
perial troops was when the foe broke through 
at Cambrai. Three platoons of the 17th Royal 
Fusiliers and one company of the 13th Essex 
died facing the enemy. The Fusiliers were 
withdrawing from an advanced sap when the 
enemy attack suddenly developed. Captain 
W. N. Stone of the Fusiliers, a company com- 
mander, elected to stay behind with one of 
the junior officers in charge of the rear guard. 

248 



TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

The little force held off the whole of the Ger- 
man attack until the main position was fully 
organised. They died to a man, with their 
faces to the foe. The company of the Essex 
regiment becoming isolated and realising the 
improbability of being extricated, held a coun- 
cil of war, at which it was unanimously deter- 
mined to fight to the last and have no surren- 
der. 

Two runners who succeeded in getting 
through were sent back to notify the battalion 
headquarters of this decision. Throughout the 
night of November 30th many efforts were 
made to effect the relief of these brave men, but 
all attempts failed against the overwhelming 
strength of the enemy. The last that is known 
of this gallant company is that they were fight- 
ing it out and maintaining to the last bulwark 
their stand against the tide of attacking Ger- 
mans. It is impossible to estimate the value 
of this magnificent fight to the death, which 
reheved the pressure on the main line of de- 
fence. 

249 



HUNTING THE HUN 

In the present great battle now waging in 
France and Flanders the Imperial troops 
have been fighting continuously day after day 
for about one month. You can well imagine 
how tired these men are as they stagger for- 
ward or fight rear guard actions to hold the 
Huns at bay. Battalion after battalion are 
being overwhelmed with greatly outnumbered 
forces of the Germans, but they fight on with 
their backs to the wall. The Gloucester Regi- 
ment is allowed to wear the cap badge on both 
back and front of their caps, as in previous 
campaigns they fought the enemy, when sur- 
rounded, back to back. They are now fight- 
ing the Huns in a similar manner. It is hard 
to pick out one regiment above the other in 
this great war as English, Irish, Scotch and 
Welsh have all been doing heroic deeds that 
shall live for ever in history. 

When this great war is ended the American 
troops will hold a very high opinion of the 
Allied forces fighting on the Western front, 

250 



TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

which v/ill do more to unite the English-speak- 
ing races. 

We often near the statement "So and So has 
a bomb-proof job." This is the term that is 
given to officers and men who do not go into 
the line. There are many jobs of this nature. 
First of all the medical officer is supposed to 
have a bomb-proof job, although in many in- 
stances medical officers have gone out into No 
Man's Land to attend the wounded and have 
lost their own lives in doing so. Then again 
comes the Chaplain or Padre. He is supposed 
to have a bomb-proof job, but there are many 
instances where these brave chaplains and 
priests have gone "over the top" and lost their 
lives. 

Town majors have a fairly good bomb-proof 
job, although sometimes when the village or 
town over which they have control is within 
the danger zone and the village liable itself 
to be shelled, their job is not exactly bomb- 
proof. This job is usually given to an officer 
who has been up the line and is rewarded for 

251 



HUNTING THE HUN 

his length of service by this appointment. He 
usually has a small staff under him of probably 
four or five men — it all depends upon the size 
and importance of the village, town or city. He 
is looked upon as a big man of the army in these 
places, as he has the awarding of all the billets 
for both officers and men. 

If the town major is within ten miles of the 
German trenches you will usually find in his 
office a bell or horns which he has sounded in 
case of a German gas attack. On the whole 
his work is not hard, and both he and his staff 
have no reason to complain of anything on 
account of the war. 

A railway transport officer is also sup- 
posed to have a bomb-proof job, although he 
must be on duty all hours of the day and night 
to attend to the troops as they entrain and 
detrain. It is his duty to see that the French 
authorities have sufficient accommodation in 
the way of either box or passenger cars for 
the troops and to arrange all matters per- 
taining to railway transportation of same. 

252 



TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

He is kept very busy and has little time to 
"swank." 

The divisional gas officer has a nice po- 
sition, although he may be in the danger zone. 
He has quite a number of men under him who 
know their jobs thoroughly, so he is seldom 
overworked. 

The officer in charge of divisional baths 
has also a nice appointment. His work is im- 
portant. He is usually in the danger zone 
but has very little work to do about the fight- 
ing in the trenches. His chief job is to have 
everything ready when officers and men come 
out of the trenches. 

The paymasters have a pretty fairly safe 
job and certainly the men in the line do not 
begrudge it to them. Everybody likes the 
paymaster and it is certainly amusing when 
we are out to rest to see the way that the men 
try to wile out advances from the paymaster 
for all kinds of frivolous reasons. 

The instructors at the various schools of in- 
struction have all fairly bomb-proof jobs, but 

253 



HUNTING THE HUN 

these jobs as instructors are usually given after 
a man has been in the line, although there are 
instances where probably a specialist in some 
branch of the service may hold one of these 
jobs without having to go in the line to secure 
it. 

We now come to the brass hats. This is the 
term that is used by the Tommy to all staff 
officers, and their entrance into a trench usually 
is the forerunner of an advance. So Tommy 
always looks with a certain amount of sus- 
picion when any staff officer makes a tour of 
the trenches. Even these staff officers are not 
always immune, many of them having been 
killed in the course of their duties. 

The A.S.C. (Army Service Corps) are al- 
ways looked upon as men who have bomb-proof 
jobs. They are really non-combatant, but 
many of them have been killed in their line of 
duty. We now come to the butchers, bakers, 
cooks, shoemakers and tailors — all of which 
have bomb-proof jobs. But in the recent at- 
tack by the Germans on the Lys Front one of 

254 



TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

our Major- Generals got together a scratch 
battalion of these non-combatant men, had 
them armed with rifles, and they bravely held 
the line against the advancing Huns. 

Railway construction troops were supposed 
to have bomb-proof jobs, but many of these 
men have taken up the rifle to assist the in- 
fantry when required, and very capable they 
have proven themselves to be. 

The forestry battalions are a non-com- 
batant corps and their job can be described 
as a bomb-proof job, although the work they 
do is very essential to the forces in the field. 

Bomb-proof jobs are few and far between 
in France, although in the various Base head- 
quarters the orderly room clerks, etc., have all 
bomb-proof jobs. These are about the only 
men who have them. 

We had an elderly man in our battalion 
who had gained the D.C.M. (Distinguished 
Conduct Medal) for bravery on the field. Our 
commanding oflicer, hearing that Brigade 
Headquarters wanted a man to repair tanks, 

257 



HUNTING THE HUN 

recommended our D.C.M. for this job, as he 
thought it would be a fairly safe one. Later 
on, as I was leaving the trenches with my pla- 
toon to go into billets, I came across a party 
struggling with a tank that had broken down. 
An officer was outside trying to prop it up. I 
halted my party and asked him if we could ren- 
der any assistance, for we were all curious to 
see the inside of the tank. The assistance was 
readily accepted and we got busy right away. 
It was not long until we had overcome the 
difficulty. The officer, I may say, who was in 
charge of the tank was not in the best of hu- 
mours, as he had been getting shelled, and in- 
formed me that when shrapnel burst they all 
had to get inside the tank for safety. I asked 
him what kind of a tank it was, a male or a 
female, and he replied to my question by say- 
ing, "You know damn well what it is ; it is one 
of those things that always gives us poor men 
trouble." I often wonder if he was a woman 
hater. The female tanks are armed with Lewis 
machine guns, and the male tank is supplied 

258 



TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

with guns of a heavier calibre. The tank offi- 
cer also informed me that he had one of our 
men with him. I asked him who it was and he 
called out of the tank our worthy D.C.M. 

I asked Johnson how he liked his job. He 
told me it was fine. All he had to do in an at- 
tack was to run in front of the tank and pick 
up the dead or wounded and put them to one 
side. Not much of a bomb-proof job at that! 

Our commanding officer had thought that, 
when he was recommending this man for a job 
to repair tanks, this was for tanks that were 
stationary such as water tanks and gas tanks. 
However, Johnson was quite satisfied with his 
job. 

All officers and men are allowed after an 
average of eight months' service in the trenches 
from seven to ten days' leave, although in a 
great many cases I have known both officers 
and men to go for over a year before they 
received leave. It just depends on whether 
or not there is urgent need for their services 
at the time. 

259 



HUNTING THE HUN 

A soldier going on leave to England is usu- 
ally given a check for 20 pounds (one hundred 
dollars) and fifty francs ($10.00). If they 
decide to spend their leave in France they re- 
ceive six hundred francs ($125.00). Trans- 
portation to their destination and back is pro- 
vided by the Government. 

When an officer or man goes on leave, he is 
naturally very keen to get off. I remember 
one instance of an officer who had been married 
just a few months before war was declared. 
Later on he had a picture sent to him of his 
wife and first born baby. He was naturally 
very excited, and kept showing the same to 
everybody he came in contact with. 

I believe he thought it was the only baby in 
the world. He asked me what I thought about 
it. I told him that the baby was just hke him, 
but I think I had a great deal to answer for in 
doing so, for the child, apparently about two 
weeks old, was a little pudgy thing. His 
features can only be discerned by those who 
own it. Later on when this officer was granted 

260 



TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB 

leave he was very anxious to get away to see 
his wife and baby. We had another look at 
the photograph and one French officer who was 
with us at the time was tapped on the back by 
this youthful father, who asked when the 
French officer was going on leave. 

The reply was rather startling and at the 
same time very pathetic. It was spoken in 
broken English: "Me no go on leave, me stay 
to fight." We wondered what lay behind these 
words, and then this officer pulled a picture out 
of his pocket. It was a picture of his wife and 
daughter, the daughter apparently a young girl 
between 15 and 16 years of age. He then 
described to us that when he was called to the 
colours he had been living in Northern France. 
The town was now occupied by the Germans. 
His wife and daughter had had to remain 
behind, and the sequel was that they had been 
outraged by the Germans and each given birth 
to a child, whose father was a Hun. 

So he had no home to go to and he preferred 
to remain and fight to avenge the wrong done 

261 



HUNTING THE HUN 

to his wife and daughter. There are many in- 
stances of a similar nature to this in both 
France and Belgium, and no atrocity that is 
perpetrated like the foregoing shall ever be for- 
gotten. 



CHAPTER XIII 

TIPS FOR RECRUITS 

The four best friends of the fighting man 
are: (1) His rifle; (2) the entrenching tool; 
(3) the oil sheet; (4) small box respirator (gas 
mask). 

The best thing to do with your rifle is to 
get an old sock, cut about eight inches from 
the top part and pull it over the rifle muzzle 
on to the breech. That will prevent the wet 
clay from interfering with the working of the 
bolt. Your entrenching tool is invaluable, for 
when you have gained a position at night your 
first duty is to entrench. If you have not got 
the tool, you would at dawn be caught by the 
Huns and probably hit. 

Your oil sheet is your bed on the damp 
earth and your umbrella on the march. If 
your *'funk hole" is dry, wrap the sheet tight 

263 



HUNTING THE HUN 

round your boots. It will help to keep the 
frost out of your feet. In these days of Hun 
frightfulness the necessity of the gas mask is 
obvious. 

When beginning the attack, take a rough 
survey of your direct front, and you will have 
as you advance the different knolls, hedges, 
ditches, etc., impressed on your mind. You 
may be two yards or so away from cover when 
a shell comes screaming towards you. Then 
you will find you have time to take cover before 
it bursts. If there is no cover near, drop flat 
down, and trust to providence. 

Never go back from the enemy shell fire, 
always go forward. The enemy usually fire 
six shells and each shot goes further behind 
you. So by meeting the first shell you can 
laugh at the other five. 

Always try, if possible, to avoid woods, 
trees and farmhouses. The Germans search 
them with shell fire. You can tell to fifty 
yards where the German shells will drop. If 
you have the misfortune to be hit, make for the 

264 



TIPS FOR RECRUITS 

nearest cover, and get your comrades to bind 
your wound. Don't stop to go back to get it 
dressed, or you will possibly get another 
wound. Just lie on your cover and wait until 
the fire slackens. 

When you go into a trench for the first 
time, examine thoroughly the height of the 
cover in front and don't walk upright if the 
trench does not protect your head. Lower 
yourself along the passageway, and rise where 
you will stand at your loophole. 

Take with you a linen bag, about half the 
size of a piUow-slip, with a loop at the end. 
It will keep your food clean and is much better 
than putting it in a dirty haversack. 

Shoot to Mil, When you go to France, 
please remember you are not going there to 
be killed. You are going there to kill your 
enemy, so try and get some lead home. I am 
sure that will please you. Don't shoot at noth- 
ing. Shoot to hit. 

One shot well aimed is worth more than a 
million sent to the sky. The Germans are 

265 



HUNTING THE HUN 

simply "fed up," and are sick of the ifighting. 
Their officers drive them to the attack with 
revolvers. We are led by our officers and 
many of us go with our own free will to 
fight the murderers of peaceful people and to 
secure the future safety of the world for de- 
mocracy. So forward, boys! 

One wonders, when one sees a German face 
to face, is this really one of those devils who 
wrought such devastation? For devastation 
they surely have wrought. You can hardly 
believe it, for he seems much the same as other 
soldiers. I can assure you that there is none 
of that insensate hatred that one hears about 
out here. We are out to kill. And kill we 
do, at any and every opportunity. But, when 
all is done and the battle is over the splendid, 
universal "soldier spirit" comes all over the 
men, and we cannot help thinking that Kipling 
must have been in the firing line when he wrote 
that "East is East and West is West." 

Just to give you some idea of what I mean, 
the other night four German snipers were 

266 



TIPS FOR RECRUITS 

shot on our wire. The next night our men 
went o\it and brought one in who was near 
and get-at-able and buried him. They did it 
with just the same reverence and sadness as 
they do to our own dear fellows. 

I went to look at the grave the next morning 
and one of the most uncouth men in my com- 
pany had placed a cross at the head of the 
grave and had written on it : 

*'Here lies a German 
We don't know his name, 
He died bravely fighting, 
For his Fatherland." 

And under that " Got-mitt-ums" (sic) — ^that 
being the highest effort of all the men at Ger- 
man. Not bad for a blood-thirsty Briton? 
Really that shows the spirit. 

When a soldier is in the trenches, he 
anxiously awaits news from home. If the peo- 
ple at home do not hear from them at regular 
intervals, do not let this stop them from writing 
bright and cheerful letters. There may be 

267 



HUNTING THE HUN 

reasons why his letters do not reach- you regu- 
larly. Parcels containing chocolates and ciga- 
rettes are always acceptable and as American 
soldiers like chewing gum, this should also be 
sent. Light silk or cotton underwear is prefer- 
able to the woollen, which harbours the vermin. 

Camphor balls placed in a small bag and 
worn on the chest and back are a preventative 
to the vermin. They may not keep the vermin 
away, but this prevents them from worrying 
you, as it seems to chloroform them. 

When a man is killed, if it is at all possible, 
he is given a proper military burial. A record 
and number of the grave is kept. Men are 
specially detailed under the Senior Military 
Chaplain to place little white crosses which 
show the number and name of the man, his 
religion, and date he was killed. This record 
is kept by the Senior Burial Officer of the 
corps. If anyone wishes to obtain a photo- 
graph of the deceased soldier's grave, they can 
get same on application to the Senior Burial 
Officer of whatever corps the soldier was in. 

268 



TIPS FOR RECRUITS 

The graves are as a rule decorated with flowers 
by the Nursing Sisters, who frequently go to 
visit these pretty little burial grounds. 

Always carry a stout leather shoelace. In 
case of an artery's being cut, your comrade or 
yourself can use it as a tourniquet. 

Fifty per cent of our troops do not think 
of carrying a lace. They trust to providence. 

Don't make a noise. Quietness is essential. 
The enemy is continually throwing up rockets, 
which enables him to see clearly for a distance 
of half a mile. When that happens you must 
at once get down on your stomach as flat as 
possible. Don't look for a clean spot, drop in 
water if it is there. If you get a kick from 
your comrade or you have a nasty fall, don't 
start to use choice language. If you do, you 
place your life and that of your comrade in 
jeopardy. 

This is what always happens. The Ger- 
mans open a bombardment on your front and 
support trenches. Then there is a lull for a 
moment. They probably think that you are 

269 



HUNTING THE HUN 

annihilated, but you are not. You are still 
smiling. Then their trumpets sound a charge 
and they come on in heaps with a poor half- 
hearted cheer. 

You must now think of the women and chil- 
dren of Belgium. Think also what would 
happen to your own if the drunken Germans 
had them in their grasp. That is the time you 
come in. Just keep cool, calm, collected, and 
let your rounds sing merrily about three feet 
from the ground. You will find the crowds in 
front of you — or part of them — will go back 
again all right, sadder, and maybe wiser men. 

Remember you are dealing with a scientific, 
brave, alert and most treacherous foe, who will 
try to destroy you by fair means or foul, so 
it is up to you to beat him and get your lead 
home first. Always be on the alert and when 
exhausted never despair. There is no need 
for it. Keep on smiling. 

(1) 



Romance and War 

iiiii: 



THE SECRET WITNESS 

By George Gibbs, author of "The Yellow Dove," etc. 

A whirlwind romance of love and war, with a man and a 
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This story of a man's behavior in battle has probably never 
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The coast of Fife among the Fife fisher-folk is the scene 
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